Danny Boyle has found his climber. Production Weekly tweeted Pineapple Express star James Franco has been cast as Aron Ralston, the American mountain climber who self-amputated part of his arm when it was pinned in a 2003 back-country hiking accident in this based on a true story movie titled 127 HOURS…
Boyle’s involvement as the director for this project was announced last November. Expect this movie to be one of those with one lead character holds the screen through most of the ordeal like Tom Hanks in Cast Away and Ryan Reynolds in the upcoming Buried.
127 HOURS will be Boyle’s 5th movie with Fox Searchlight after Millions, 28 Days Later, Sunshine and Slumdog Millionaire, speaking of which, the same Oscar winning team will help him out again with this project. Simon Beaufoy will write the script, and Christian Colson will produce.
Franco is a great choice, the man’s got talent, sometimes his good looks can get in the way but this movie will be a testament of what he can do as an actor. Who knows, maybe at the next Oscars, we’ll see both names Franco and Reynolds nominated for their one-man performances. Filming for 127 HOURS will start in March in Utah.
Ralston amputated part of his arm with a dull knife, all by himself. It wasn’t a surgical knife, it wasn’t even sterile, it was just something that he needed to do to survive after getting stuck there for 5 days. Ralston then scaled a 65-foot sheer wall and hiked out before running into a family that gave him water and food. Part of the movie that’s probably going to be tough to watch is when Ralston tried to break the bone in his arm.
Here’s how Ralston describes that fateful moment
This could be an amazing film. Will the whole movie be just James Franco, or will it start with him at home with his wife, etc. sort of like “Castaway?” From what I hear, “Buried” is only Ryan Reynolds, buried in the box for all 90 minutes of the film — no flashbacks, no cutaways.
What I hear is just Franco from beginning to the end but it might be subject to change.. we’ll see