Angelina Jolie Kills Another Film Production?

News

Is Angelina Jolie that powerful a celeb that a studio would actually nix a production if it was unable to have her star? Apparently so. Warner Bros. was offering her big money to star in Gravity, the 3D film from director Alfonso Cuaron (Children of Men) and also starring Robert Downey Jr. When somebody says that a movie centers on somebody, it usually means that the character is the central figure. However, like Tom Hanks in Cast Away and Sam Rockwell in Moon, Jolie is the only person onscreen for much of the film’s running time.

I can see why Warner Bros. would be groveling at the feet of Jolie. The studio needs an actress that can command the screen as well as draw an audience to see it. In recent weeks, there were reports that WB was considering Blake Lively for the role, but when the project was at Universal Jolie was intrigued with director Cuaron. Yet when the property landed with Warner Bros. she passed.

Deadline is reporting that WB tested or approached actresses including Sandra Bullock and Natalie Portman (word around town is the studio’s intrigued with both), Naomi Watts, Marion Cotillard, Carey Mulligan, Scarlett Johansson, Sienna Miller, Abbie Cornish, Rebecca Hall, Olivia Wilde, and the already mentioned Blake Lively.

Robert Downey carries weight as a star but his presence in the film is relatively small and not one meant to carry the picture. Maybe in advertising and promoting the film, but not in a “you-must-see-Downey-in-this” sort of way.

Gravity is set on a remote space station. While a team leader (Downey) and a female colleague are traveling outside, the other team members get wiped out by a debris field from an exploding satellite. The film’s central focus is the heroine’s desperate attempt to return home to her child.

Production was slated to commence in 2011 after Downey completed Sherlock Holmes 2.

I understand Warner Bros.’ concern but killing a project just because of Jolie’s appeal worldwide is just stupid. There is a handful of actresses that are worthy successors for the role, including many of the names mentioned already. It’s simple: pick Marion Cotillard and make the film.

As for Jolie, it appears she is eyeing roles in Tim Burton’s Sleeping Beauty (as Maleficent); playing the title role in Cleopatra for Sony Pictures; playing the lead role in Scarpetta, the Fox 2000 adaptation of Patricia Cornwell’s bestselling novel series about medical examiner Kay Scarpetta. And of course there’s a sequel to Salt to consider as well as Christopher McQuarrie’s (The Usual Suspects, The Way of the Gun) adaptation of the British miniseries Unforgiven for GK Films as a potential star vehicle for Jolie.

Angelina Jolie can next be seen in The Tourist with Johnny Depp (December 10) and heard in Kung Fu Panda 2, which will be released May 26, 2011.

Travis Leamons is one of the Inside Pulse Originals and currently holds the position of Managing Editor at Inside Pulse Movies. He's told that the position is his until he's dead or if "The Boss" can find somebody better. I expect the best and I give the best. Here's the beer. Here's the entertainment. Now have fun. That's an order!