Celebrity Mound

The Oscar-winning actress is a strong possibility for the lead role in Alfonso Cuaron’s sci-fi drama if Natalie Portman turns down the offer she was given for the part last week.

Despite Portman being first choice with Cuaron, sources claim Sandra is popular with Warner Bros. executives as they feel the expensive effects will need a big name to justify the money spent, Cinema Blend reports.

Portman was offered the role after Angelina Jolie pulled out and it had been reported she would sign a deal within the next week as filming needs to begin by the end of January due to the film’s other lead star Robert Downey Jr. working on ‘The Avengers’ and ‘Sherlock Holmes 2′.

‘Gravity’ tells the tale of a female astronaut who must find her way back to Earth after her space station is hit by satellite debris.

The female lead takes the majority of the screen time of the film – similar to Tom Hanks in ‘Castaway’ – leading to Warner Bros. wanting to get the casting for the $80 million project exactly right.

Five years after Hurricane Katrina, Oscar-winning actress Sandra Bullock returned Sunday to the New Orleans high school she helped rebuild for the opening of an on-campus health clinic.

Bullock, whose adopted son was born in New Orleans, joined a host of educators, school supporters and politicians, including U.S. Sens. Mary Landrieu and David Vitter and New Orleans Mayor Mitch Landrieu, for the clinic’s ribbon-cutting ceremony, which coincided with the storm’s anniversary.

“We’re here to celebrate an anniversary and though that might be hard for some, I choose to emphasize the word ‘celebrate.’ Sometimes tragedies bring out the very best in people and it’s one of the reasons why we stand in this school of excellence today,” Bullock told about 100 people gathered in the auditorium of Warren Easton Charter High School, which was rebuilt after Katrina swamped the campus.

In addition to a contribution from Bullock, the $700,000 medical and dental clinic received grants from The Kellogg Foundation and The San Francisco 49ers Foundation. It’s set to open in the fall and will provide services ranging from flu shots to emergency care.

Bullock previously donated money to Easton, the city’s oldest public high school, for renovations, scholarships and supplies including new band uniforms.

“She’s helped shine a light on us and our efforts,” said Alexina Medley, Easton’s principal. “Without her, we would not have returned as soon as we did. She’s come to our rescue several times and in a pinch, she’s definitely helped us out.”

Janell Batiste, 44, whose 14-year-old daughter Jasmine is a freshman at Easton, said the community needs the clinic.

“It will definitely help those students who don’t have insurance,” she said. “I think there should be these types of facilities in all the schools.”

Cassondra Ferrand, the school’s nurse who helped spearhead the clinic project, said Tulane Medical Center will provide physicians for the clinic, which will also have nurse practitioners and social workers.

Ferrand said the clinic is badly needed in an area that’s been underserved since Katrina.

“This corridor used to have a slew of doctors and dentists but post-Katrina, there’s nothing,” she said.

A judge granted Sandra Bullock a three-year restraining order Friday against a man who has a history of stalking her and allegedly traveled cross-country to try to meet the actress after being released from a mental hospital.

Thomas James Weldon was ordered to refrain from trying to contact the actress or Louis Bardo Bullock, an infant boy the Academy Award-winner is in the process of adopting.

The restraining order also protects the children of Bullock’s ex-husband Jesse James. The children occasionally stay with the actress.

Bullock first obtained a restraining order against Weldon in 2003. The order was extended but expired last year because Weldon was being held in a Tennessee mental hospital.

After his release earlier this year, he traveled to Wyoming in an alleged attempt to meet the actress, according to Bullock’s attorney Ed McPherson.

Weldon was committed indefinitely to a state mental hospital in Wyoming on Tuesday.

“It’s obvious that this fixation on her has not changed despite seven years in the hospital in Tennessee,” McPherson said.

Bullock did not attend Friday’s hearing.

There aren’t many children who enjoy a trip to the store but there wasn’t a peep from baby Louis as his doting mother Sandra Bullock carried him around the shops.

The seven-month-old slept soundly as the actress looked around Wildflower Organics in her hometown of Austin, Texas.

Oscar-winner Sandra was dressed down for the Fourth of July holiday weekend in cut-off denim shorts, a white T-shirt and cap, while her adorable son was clad in shorts and T-shirt.

Clasped in his mother’s arms, Louis sucked sleepily on his pacifier, blissfully unaware of their surroundings.

Sandra, 45, is now raising him as a single mother following her divorce from Jesse James.

This was finalized last month when the pair filed papers in Texas to finalize their divorce after almost five years of marriage.

Sandra split from her 41-year-old husband in April after reports of an 11-month relationship with tattoo model Michelle ‘Bombshell’ McGee.

He is believed to have slept with at least five other women while married to the actress.

The couple had adopted Louis in January after a four-year process.

Sandra has now moved home to Texas, leaving the marital home in Los Angeles.

She has also purchased a home in New Orleans, Louis’s birthplace, so that he grows up in touch with his roots.