Finally, Plot Details for Gravity Starring Sandra Bullock and George Clooney
Posted 12.20.11 by BrentJS
It's not much of an exaggeration to say that Alfonso Cuarón (Children of Men) had just about as difficult of a time getting his upcoming sci-fi movie, Gravity, off the ground as the protagonists in the movie will apparently have trying to get back down to the ground — especially when you consider the veritable revolving door of A-list actors who came close to playing the two leading roles in the movie, but eventually dropped out or took a pass.
Cuarón finally began shooting Gravity at the end of May with Sandra Bullock and George Clooney headlining, but we've heard virtually nothing about the movie or its plot since that time, save for a comment made by friend and fellow filmmaker Guillermo del Toro back in August describing Gravity as "incredibly human, but Kubrick-ian in [its] precision." Now, a plot synopsis for the movie has finally been released that not only defines Bullock's and Clooney's roles, but also paints Gravity as a psychological thriller along the lines of Cast Away-meets-Apollo 13 (minus Tom Hanks).
[Sandra] Bullock plays Dr. Ryan Stone, a brilliant medical engineer on her first shuttle mission, with veteran astronaut Matt Kowalsky (Clooney) in command of his last flight before retiring. But on a seemingly routine spacewalk, disaster strikes. The shuttle is destroyed, leaving Stone and Kowalsky completely alone — tethered to nothing but each other and spiraling out into the blackness.
The deafening silence tells them they have lost any link to Earth... and any chance for rescue. As fear turns to panic, every gulp of air eats away at what little oxygen is left.
But the only way home may be to go further out into the terrifying expanse of space.
Gravity is practically a one-man show, with Cuarón handling writing (with his son, Jonas), directing, producing, and editing duties. It has been reported that the movie contains a 20-minute single shot opening scene and that the majority of the $80 million budget will go toward CGI and post-production 3-D conversion, which is currently in progress.