Director Danny Boyle (Trainspotting, 28 Days Later, Slumdog Millionaire) is hard at work preparing for his next film, 127 Hours. Hours is the true story of Aron Ralston, a mountain climber who amputated his own arm after being pinned by a boulder for almost five days. Shooting is set to begin shortly based on a script by Slumdog Millionaire scribe Simon Beaufoy and James Franco in the lead.
Obviously this is a tricky story to turn into a film. The story is inspirational, yes, but not very cinematic per se. I mean, it’s one guy, trapped by a rock. It’s been done before (Buried, which premiered at Sundance this year, is set to be released September 24th.) and I’m really excited to see what Boyle does with it. So, what do we know right now?
First of all, there isn’t going to be any internal monologue or voiceover. Boyle has stated that the first hour of the film will be entirely devoid of dialogue. Now, the real-life Alston recorded six or seven video messages during the time in which he had no hope. This will probably be the main way of communicating his thoughts on his impending demise.
That being said, today Collider reported that Lizzy Caplan has been cast in the film. She plays Ralston’s sister and appears as a hallucination. Now we know what direction this movie will be heading. So, for the first hour or so, we’ll be with Ralston as he hikes, meets two fellow travelers, and is trapped by a large boulder. After a while of struggling, he records videos for his loved ones. My best guess is that as he starts to lose his mind he begins to hallucinate and eventually decides to do the unthinkable (e.g. chop his own arm off) to save his own life.
Another interesting tidbit about the film is Boyle’s choice to use two cinematographers. Because the movie has so few characters, he has chosen two very different cinematographers – Anthony Dod Mantle and Enrique Chediak.
This is looking like a very interesting film. I can’t wait to see what Boyle does with it and whether Franco has the acting chops to hold a film on his own. 127 Hours starts shooting shortly and is set to be released late this year by Fox Searchlight. I would not be surprised if this movie were a serious contender, come awards season.
