Due to scheduling issues, it was reported a few weeks back that there was a possibility that Robert Downey Jr. would have to drop Alfonso Cuaron's Gravity. Though he stuck with the project for months as it shuffled through leading ladies for the in-demand lead role, it was looking more and more unlikely that he would be able to do the project with titles like The Avengers, Yucatan, Oz The Great And Powerful and Emergency already on his upcoming schedule. Now it's official that the actor has been forced to drop the part, but he's replacing it with another.
THR reports that Downey Jr. is currently in negotiations to both play in and produce How To Talk To Girls, a movie based on a book that was written by then-nine-year-old Alec Greven as a school assignment. Greven, now 11, has written at least three other How To Talk... books since. Writers Ben Karlin (The Daily Show) and Stu Zicherman (Elektra) wrote the script, though it is being reported that it will be altered as a vehicle for Downey. Susan Downey, Robert's wife and production partner, is now in charge of the project's development and hiring a new writer.
As great as RDJ is, I can't say that I'm too thrilled about this news. Sure, nobody's happy about the casting of Sandra Bullock, but Cuaron is one of the most talented directors working today and this is a project based on a book by someone only a few years removed from diapers. Then again, maybe Gravity is so cursed that the production will take years to get into development and Downey will be able to make it further down the line.
