Gravity director Alfonso Cuaron has revealed that Robert Downey Jr. walked away from the film as he found it too tough to work with such advanced technology.
Downey Jr. and Angelina Jolie were initially slated to star in the sci-fi epic – which is nominated for Best Picture, Best Director and Best Actress for Sandra Bullock at the Oscars – but were later replaced by George Clooney and Bullock.
While Jolie dropped out due to her busy schedule, Downey Jr. was not comfortable with the technology used for the film.
Cuaron explained to The Hollywood Reporter, “It became clear that, as we started to nail the technology, or narrow the technology, that was going to be a big obstacle for (Downey Jr’s) performance.
“I think Robert is fantastic if you give him the freedom to completely breathe and improvise and change stuff. (But) we tried one of these technologies and it was not compatible.
“After that, we (had a) week that we pretended as if nothing was happening and then we talked and said, ‘This is not going to work. This is tough’.”
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