George Clooney is currently in competition with James Franco for the prize of hardest working actor in Hollywood.

His role in Alexander Payne’s next featureAlexander Payne(he was one of the director’s original choices for Sideways) is now complete and the film is in post-production, he’s prepping his forth directorial effort The Ides of March (formally Farragut North) and he was recently announced as the lead in Alfonso Cuaron’s long-in-development sci-fi thriller Gravity. There’s also whispers of him re-teaming with old buddy Steven Soderbergh for a big screen version of The Man from U.N.C.L.E.

Now Deadline are reporting that Fox 2000 are turning crime book The Monster of Florence into a star vehicle for the actor, which he’ll also produce under his Smokehouse banner with partner Grant Heslov and one of the film’s scriptwriters, Christopher McQuarrie.

Clooney will play Douglas Preston, a thriller writer who actually embarked on a mission to solve a 30-year old serial murder case with Italian crime reporter Mario Spezi, the results of which were covered in the non-fiction bestseller which shares the same name as the film.

There are definite shades of Zodiac here and since the killings took place in Florence, Italy, Clooney will be able to relax and put his feet up at his home on Lake Garda during the shoot.

It seems a little impolite to keep posting about the curious casting for Alfonso Cuaron’s troubled spacebound disaster movie Gravity, but following what could have been the death knell for the project the vacant spot for the leading man has been filled.

Robert Downey Jr. was a mainstay in the film’s preparation while various A-List actresses came and went in the film’s main role with Sandra Bullock now set to play the part Angelina Jolie, Natalie Portman, Rachel Weisz and Scarlett Johansson were all linked to at one point. Downey Jr. exited the project recently due to scheduling difficulties which left the project in freefall.

Now, according the THR, George Clooney will appear as the only other astronaut to, along with Bullock’s character, survive a disastrous meteor storm while on a space walk. I posited in a previous post that Warner Bros. need to find a bankable and recognisable male lead to plaster over the posters, despite the fact that this is really a female lead story of survival, and it seems they have their man.

I’ve no doubt Clooney will do good things with this one and I just hope now, finally, it finds its feet and rolls into production.

Alfonso Cuaron’s spacebound survival movie Gravity has lost its leading man, as THR reports that Robert Downey Jr. has left the project.

After a number of leading ladies first attached, then drifted away from the project (Angelina Jolie and Natalie Portman to name just two) Sandra Bullock stepped up to take the main role of the film, at the time to star opposite Downey Jr.

Telling the story of the immediate consequences of a space mission caught in a meteorite storm the female character Bullock is due to play has most of the film to herself, and while the role Downey Jr. was set to play will surely be recast this project needs to get have some good luck before it falls out of the sky completely.

The report indicates that Downey Jr. is heading for a Fox production based on a book about talking to girls, written by a nine year old called Alec Greven, titled How to Talk to Girls. Charm and homespun philosophy are sure to collide with consequences both ‘hilarious’ and ‘sweet’ and the project is set to be a family friendly film in the vein of Big according to producer Shawn Levy. Let’s hope it too goes down, down baby, down by the roller coaster, sweet, sweet baby…

It’s a sad day when an original and engaging script from a talented director fails to find an easy passage to the big screen.

If this rumour from Deadline is true, and Robert Downey Jr.’s schedule is making his co-starring role in Alfonso Cuaron’s 3D space survival film Gravity looking increasingly unlikely, then it may well throw the project off kilter and potentially shut it down.

Though Downey Jr.’s role is only a supporting one it is crucial to the film’s set-up and Downey Jr. has been attached from early on in the film’s production while leading ladies Angelina Jolie, Rachel Weisz and Natalie Portman floated by without hanging onto the project. Now that Sandra Bullock looks likely to be lead role Deadline report that she is trying to get the Iron Man star to stay on the project, though the Sherlock Holmes sequel and his work for Marvel in the third Iron Man film, as well as his role in The Avengers, will keep Downey Jr. busy for the foreseeable future. This is not to mention his supposed leading role in the Sam Raimi’s Oz: The Great and Powerful.

If he does leave the project it is highly likely that Cuaron will want to fill the role quickly, having had so much trouble getting his female lead, and it’s no mean feat to find someone as recoginsable and, I hate to use this word, ‘bankable’ as Downey Jr. for the film.

Here’s hoping schedules can be worked out, Gravity is a very strong story which will be quite an experience when/if it hits the screen.

News comes in from Vulture that 20th Century Fox are happy with the latest draft of Ridley Scott’s Alien prequel, as penned by Lost co-creator Damon Lindelof, plus the top name on the studio’s casting list is Natalie Portman.

She’s been linked to Alfonso Cuaron’s sci-fi drama Gravity of late, although it doesn’t appear that she will be signing on to that now, so maybe there’s a space (no pun intended) in her schedule to fit in a fight with those perky xenomorphs.

The prequel, set roughly 35 years before Scott’s now classic sci-fi chiller, may still have bumpy road ahead as Fox are projecting a the film’s budget will be between $150 million and $160 million – a pricey figure which will need a large audience to recoup the costs, which may conflict with the idea that Scott has of going back to basics and making it “really tough, really nasty”.

Maybe this new rewrite has managed the miraculous task of both fulfilling the directors wishes as well as the studio’s.

It was reported last week that an offer had been made to Natalie Portman – on the back of her acclaimed performance in Black Swan - to star in Alfonso Cuarón’s Gravity, after Angelina Jolie turned down the role, twice.

While Portman has yet to read the script and accept the offer, it seems studio executive from Warner Bros. already have an actress on hold in case Portman, like Jolie, eventually declines.

Sandra Bullock, who won an Oscar for her acclaimed performance in The Blind Side, is reportedly waiting in the wings as a possible replacement, according to Collider

Warner Bros. are seemingly worried that Portman doesn’t have the star quality to carry such an expensive production, and would prefer to see an actress of Bullock’s stature headline the project.

Personally I feel Portman, in the many years she’s been acting, has proved herself to be a much more viable, prominent and versatile actress than Bullock. I’m not knocking Bullock, she really did put in an impressive performance in The Blind Side, but I don’t feel she’s got the background required for such a demanding role.

What do you think? If Portman does pass on Gravity, who would you like to see in the lead role?

Despite having just been offered the lead role in Alfonso Cuarón’s hotly-contested Gravity, it seems another high-profile director is eyeing Natalie Portman for a role in his next film.

The film in question is “a Jerry Lee Lewis-related project”, that was originally set up years ago with Dennis Quaid and Winona Ryder in the lead roles, and Terence Malick directing. The script was described as being “much darker” than Great Balls of Fire.

THR are now reporting that Malick is working with Brad Pitt to bring the project to life, and, after the praise she’s received for her lead role in Darren Aronofsky’s Black Swan, hopes to secure Portman for an undisclosed role.

However, with Malick about to start production on an untitled romantic drama with Ben Affleck, Rachel Weisz, Javier Bardem, Rachel McAdams and Olga Kurylenko, don’t expect to see anything for three or four years, at the very least.

It looks like the planets have aligned for director Alfonso Cuaron as he finally finds a lead for his sci-fi thriller Gravity.

News comes in from The Hollywood Reporter that Natalie Portman has signed up for the role of a stranded astronaut who has to survive all alone on a deserted space station. The role has previously been offered to a number of high-profile actresses (including Scarlett Johansson and Angelina Jolie) but Portman looks like a solid choice to go with (she’s currently riding high on her praised performance in Darren Aronofsky’s Black Swan, which is doing the festival circuit) and as most of the action focuses solely on her character, it’s a chance for her to really showcase her talent.

Let’s hope this film will help to vanquish the memory of her playing a princess (where she was never given the chance to shine at all) in another sci-fi epic from a galaxy far, far away.

It was confirmed on Thursday that Angelina Jolie had declined the offer to star in Alfonso Cuarón’s Gravity, leaving the casting directors, and indeed, Warner Bros. executives, with a bit of a headache.

The lead actress needs to be able to carry an $80 million sci-fi film, as they’ll be the only person on screen for much of the running time, so Warner Bros. and Cuarón need to make the right choice to ensure their investment is worthwhile.

Latino Review are reporting that Gravity producers are interested in meeting with Rachel Weisz to take on the role. Though nothing has been confirmed, Weisz seems to be the frontrunner at this time, as others actresses who have already tested for the role – including everyone from Naomi Watts to Olivia Wilde – seem to have been ruled out.

It remains to be seen if an offer will be made to Weisz, but it’s certainly an interesting prospect. Weisz has the versatility that would be required for such a demanding role, as well as the respectable fan base needed to attract a wide audience. The involvement of Robert Downey Jr. as supporting actor will undoubtedly help when it comes to marketing.

Do you think Rachel Weisz could hold her own in such a demanding role? Have your say below.

Despite Warner Bros’ apparently increasingly desperate attempts to persuade Angelina Jolie to join their new sci-fi adventure “Gravity”, she has conclusively decided that she will not be joining the film, leaving WB with a bit of a headache.

Gravity (to be directed by Alfonso Cuaron) is a relatively high-budget film ($80m), set aboard a space station which is damaged by debris from an exploding satellite. The heroine must try against overwhelming odds to make it safely home. Deadline (who grabbed the news on this) describe it as similar to Castaway, in that it will rely upon the pull of the main star, who will be the only person on screen for much of the running time. Factor in as well the significant CGI outlay needed for a film set predominantly in zero-gravity and it is easy to understand WB’s unease at greenlighting the film without a bankable actress on board.

Deadline say that WB tested or approached all manner of actresses, including Sandra Bullock, Natalie Portman, Naomi Watts, Marion Cotillard, Carey Mulligan, Scarlett Johansson, Sienna Miller, Abbie Cornish, Rebecca Hall, Olivia Wilde and Blake Lively, after Jolie passed the first time around. Now she has passed a second time, it seems unlikely that she will have a change of heart.

Robert Downey Jr is on board Gravity as the team leader of the space-station, but presumably the script carries so much screen time for the female lead that RDJ’s considerable pull will not be enough on its own to allay WB’s concerns. RDJ will not be free until after he shoots Sherlock Holmes 2 next year and given the considerable slate that Jolie seems to have lined up, she may not be available for a long, long time, even if she were to decide to return to the project.

Nicolas Cage recently dropped out of then suddenly returned to “Trespass”, so never say never. Likewise, Moon showed that a single-hander sci-fi with a less well-known star can succeed on its own merits, however Gravity seems to be pitched as a very differently scaled project from that low-key Sam Rockwell-starrer. Given the wealth of talent that WB seem to have either unsuccessfully courted, or felt to be unsuitable for the project, perhaps they will decide that without Jolie the film will go into turnaround. We will see.

Previously on The Casting Saga of Alfonso Cuaron’s sci-fi survival thriller Gravity…

Universal had Angelina Jolie in the title role of a stranded astronaut trying to survive the return to Earth, the script was written by the Brothers Cuaron, with Alfonso taking the turn in the director’s chair. Anyone familiar with his astonishing adaptation of P.D. James’ Children of Men will instantly see the appeal of this project, but all was not so rosy in the Universal sky.

The project jettisoned Jolie and docked with Warners, whose man of the moment Robert Downey Jr. stepped in to a lead role and momentum started building again. Then we heard that Downey Jr’s Iron Man 2 co-star Scarlett Johansson had ‘verbally agreed’ to step into Jolie’s moonboots.

Today, another name was thrown into orbit as HeatVision report that Green Lantern cast member Blake Lively has tested for the role Johansson is going for, along with Marion Cotillard but they understand that Lively and Johansson are most likely to be cast.

So we’re still no nearer to a fellow cast member for Downey Jr. in Cuaron’s film, but it’s good to see the project moving forward, as this film, along with Von Trier’s Melancholia, Duncan Jones’ Source Code and the various other sci-fi ventures, point to a bright future for the genre.

In February it was reported, by various sources, that Angelina Jolie was in talks to star in Alfonso Cuaron’s upcoming sci-fi adventure, Gravity.

Then, in March we reported that Robert Downey Jr had been cast to compensate for the departure of Jolie. Now, according to the NY Daily News reports (via Bleeding Cool), Robert Downey Jr’s co-star in Iron Man 2, Scarlett Johansson, has “verbally agreed” to star in the film. Johansson will play the role of Ryan Stone, a young, intelligent engineer.

Synopsis: Gravity centers on a team of astronauts — including the lead medical engineer and a talkative “mile-a-minute” veteran astronaut — who are asked to abandon their fix-it Hubble telescope mission and quickly reboard their ship after a sudden implosion of Russian satellites triggers a debris avalanche in orbit that threatens their immediate safety. It’s basically a very high concept sci-fi thriller and a nonstop race for our protagonists to get back to earth.

Cuaron is planning on shooting the film, in 3D, this summer. The film itself is said to be CGI and effects-heavy, with the FX drawing comparisons to James Cameron’s Avatar in terms of scale and the directors ambition. However, if anyone can pull a epic sci-fi film off, then it most certainly has to be Cuaron. After the marvellous work he did with Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban and Children of Men, it’s hard not to get excited by this project.

Watch this space, as more details are sure to be announced when filming gets underway.

Alfonso Cuaron’s forthcoming sci-fi drama Gravity has been garnering a lot of attention recently, and now we’ve learned some great casting news that will surely increase this film’s momentum to the big screen.

Previously Angelina Jolie was attached to star in the Children of Men director’s tale of a team of a remote space station which suffers a catastrophic incident which wipes out the rest of the crew, save Jolie who was supposed to be the only survivor.

Deadline Hollywood have now updated us and to compensate for the departure of Jolie, Robert Downey Jr. is in talks to play one of the two survivors.

Downey will be filming Gravity, to be shot in 3D, before the hurried Sherlock Holmes sequel goes before the lens later this year, and of course the entire geek community is on tenterhooks to see Downey in the Iron Man sequel due out this April.

I was a huge fan of Cuaron’s Children of Men and with Downey’s star at its highest point for some time Warner Bros are aiming high for this one.