The lead role in 'Gravity', an upcoming thriller, has come down to Blake Lively & Scarlett Johansson, who would star opposite Robert Downey Jr.
The film centers around a female astronaut who is left stranded in space after a mission goes bad and is forced to find a way home. It's Cast Away meets Apollo 13, and should be a meaty role that takes one of the sexy starlets to a new level, an Angelina Jolie-level. Who will win the race for space?
Both actress know about playing female leads in noteworthy films. We'll see Lively next summer alongside Ryan Reynolds (Johansson's husband, ironically) in Green Lantern, and next to Ben Affleck in September for The Town. Johansson on the other hand got her butt-kicking on in Iron Man 2 earlier this year and is the only female casted thus far in the highly anticipated flick, The Avengers. Angelina Jolie would've headlined this project had her price tag not been so large. Recently, audiences have told us that big names don't always equal big success anyways, with The Hangover & Avatar showing off the 'no star' trend.
Gravity will be directed by Alfonso Cuaron, who adapted films such as Great Expectations & Children of Men. It's great to see another strong female role that could possibly see Johansson or Lively stuck in a space station, or space, for an ungodly amount of time -- it's usually men that go crazy alone in space, ala Sam Rockwell in Moon. May the best actress win!
