MUMBAI: Praised for her excellent performance in Darren Aronofsky‘s psychological thriller Black Swan, Natalie Portman has been approached by Warner Bros. the lead role in a 3D survival story titled Gravity. The role recently vacated by Angelina Jolie.

The $80 million 3-D film to be directed by Alfonso Cuaron centers on a woman stranded on a space station after satellite debris slam into it and wipes out the rest of the crew. 

Incidentally, Cuaron has wriiten the script he wrote with his son Jonas after which the studio approached Portman with the offer. She is expected to read the latest version of the script this week and decide shortly.

Gravity‘s shooting is likley to start at the end of January, before Downey goes off to other engagements.

Portman already has three projects that will be released next year, the Paramount romantic comedy No Strings in January, the Universal comedy Your Highness in April and the Marvel/Paramount comedy cum actioner Thor in May.

Scuttlebutt at Telluride after its first screenings is that, based solely on Swan reviews during the previous few days, Terrence Malick wants Portman for a Jerry Lee Lewis-related project he‘s developing with Brad Pitt, and Tom Stoppard (Shakespeare In Love) also apparently is writing something for her. This is in addition to widespread opinion that Portman will be fielding major awards attention at year‘s end. Fox Searchlight will release Black Swan on December 1.