Sandra Bullock defies gravity

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STORY: Watching an astronaut tumbling into the void of deep space might make a mere mortal's own adversities seem rather small.

But "Gravity," a drama starring Sandra Bullock and showing in U.S. theaters on Friday (October 4), was born out of the setbacks suffered by one man in the midst of the last recession: its director and co-writer, Alfonso Cuaron.

The Mexican filmmaker had already achieved international success with films like "Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban" in 2004 and "Children of Men" in 2006. But in 2009, financing on a new film fell apart, leaving him in the lurch.

The 51-year-old filmmaker and son Jonas Cuaron, 30, decided they would not sit around licking their wounds, and quickly got to work on a script about adversity, weaving the theme through tense and gripping action. They soon settled on space, a fascination for the Cuarons.

And that is pretty much how "Gravity" begins, with Bullock playing no