Natalie Portman gives up on Gravity, will Sandra Bullock take over?

If Angelina Jolie passes on a role, give it to Natalie Portman. If Portman passes, you give it to…Sandra Bullock.

Turns out, Portman has mulled over the offer to star in Alfonso Cuaron’s GRAVITY, but is turning it down. Deadline also mentioned that she probably won’t be doing PRIDE AND PREJUDICE AND ZOMBIES either. The reason she declined the project was due to scheduling conflicts.

The list of actresses being considered for the part consisted of Sandra Bullock, Naomi Watts, Marion Cotillard, Carey Mulligan, Scarlett Johansson, Sienna Miller, Abbie Cornish, Rebecca Hall, Olivia Wilde and Blake Lively. Bullock was the name that carried close to the same amount of weight next to Portman’s.

Insiders are saying that Warner Bros. is going after Bullock for the lead now. If she wins the part, she will be playing the role of, “a space station team member who tries to find her way back to earth and her daughter after the space station she is working on is destroyed by a debris field from an exploded asteroid.”

Several actresses have been vying for the role since the concept is an original one and they would get to work with Cuaron (CHILDREN OF MEN). Robert Downey Jr. has agreed to co-star, but his role would be a minor one. When an actress is chosen, she will have to hold the audience’s focus for most of the film. Deadline compared the part to that of Tom Hanks’ in CAST AWAY.

Would Bullock be the right choice?