Angelina Jolie drifts off from Gravity

Gravity

Angelina Jolie has officially turned down Alfonso Cuaron’s new sci-flick Gravity , which could see the film’s production spiralling into limbo.

The film, which is about a female astronaut who is literally lost in space when her satellite crashes, has been courting Jolie for its lead role. But after months of deliberation, she has finally passed on the project.

Warner Brothers are wasting no time looking for a replacement, though, and have already tested or approached a massive range of A-list actresses.

The full list reported by Deadline includes: Sandra Bullock, Natalie Portman, Naomi Watts, Marion Cotillard, Carey Mulligan, Scarlett Johansson, Sienna Miller, Abbie Cornish, Rebecca Hall, Olivia Wilde, and Blake Lively.

Previous rumours had it that Scarlett Johansson had already “verbally agreed” to star in the film alongside her Iron Man 2 co-star Robert Downey Jr, though a verbal agreement really means Jack in the cast-iron-clad-contract world of Hollywood.

With Gravity ’s proposed 2012 release date drawing ever closer, the WB and Alfonso Cuaron will have to think fast about how they’re going to get the flick onto the production line. And considering its ambitious scale and relatively modest $80m budget, they’ve got a heck of a challenge ahead of them.

Jolie, meanwhile, is currently writing her own Bosnian war story, and is attached to a Salt sequel, Tim Burton’s Sleeping Beauty update Maleficent and a Cleopatra biopic.

Josh Winning has worn a lot of hats over the years. Contributing Editor at Total Film, writer for SFX, and senior film writer at the Radio Times. Josh has also penned a novel about mysteries and monsters, is the co-host of a movie podcast, and has a library of pretty phenomenal stories from visiting some of the biggest TV and film sets in the world. He would also like you to know that he "lives for cat videos..." Don't we all, Josh. Don't we all.