Heat Vision has confirmed rumors that Blake Lively and Scarlett Johansson are the frontrunners for the lead role in director Alfonso Cuaron’s Gravity. Lively, who stars opposite Ryan Reynolds in Green Lantern, and Johansson, who is married to Reynolds, would be joining Robert Downey Jr. in the sci-fi drama.
The trade says that Johansson and Lively has both tested for the role of a female astronaut lost in space and a decision is expected to be made within the next week or two.
In the film, co-written by Alfonso and his brother Jonas, astronauts repairing the Hubble telescope are hit with an avalanche of satellite junk. The surviving astronaut must fight her way back to Earth, where she hopes to reunite with her daughter.
The project was originally set up at Universal as a vehicle for Angelina Jolie, but when it moved to Warner Bros., Jolie left the project.
Johansson starred with Downey Jr. in Iron Man 2 earlier this year.
