‘Gravity’ Starring Natalie Portman? Other Actresses Who Missed The Mark

By now the idea that a film could spend years in development isn’t a strange concept. It’s very common in the case of high concept films, and such was the case for Alfonso Cuaron’s Gravity.

Over a period of years, Gravity saw many stars in the lead roles that Sandra Bullock and George Clooney snagged up. It’s hard to believe that any one else could play up the same desperation as Sandra Bullock does in the promos that are shown. However, that was nearly almost the case.

Of course Sandra Bullock was cast because she’s a big box office draw, but her performance is so impactful that to imagine someone else in her role would be incredibly hard to imagine, but for the most part Bullock wasn’t involved in the early stages of Gravity.

Natalie Portman was one of the promising names discussed to step into Dr. Ryan Stone’s shoes. Back then Black Swan was all the rage, and it was receiving fantastic reviews for Portman. Of course this role would lead Portman to win her Oscar for Best Lead Actress, but apparently Portman wasn’t up for the challenge of Gravity and declined the offer from Cuaron.

Next up is Angelina Jolie, who if you ask us, seems to be pretty perfect for any role in existence. Jolie’s involvement came in 2010 and she was on the top of Cuaron’s list for the lead role. In the end the two couldn’t make it work out and Jolie was out of the project.

Amazingly enough at one point it seems like Cuaron gave up, because his other pick was Blake Lively. Proving to be extremely young, and nowhere near having the acting chops needed to play the role, Lively was approached in 2010 as well. Thank goodness this didn’t come to fruition.

As a side, George Clooney’s role was once considered by Robert Downey Jr. but later on the actor dropped out of the project.

Do you think Sandra Bullock was the best choice for Gravity? We certainly do, but more on that later.

Gravity hits theaters Friday, October 3, 2013.