Taglines: There is no force more powerful than the will to live.
127 Hours is the true story of mountain climber Aron Ralston’s (James Franco) remarkable adventure to save himself after a fallen boulder crashes on his arm and traps him in an isolated canyon in Utah. Over the next five days Ralston examines his life and survives the elements to finally discover he has the courage and the wherewithal to extricate himself by any means necessary, scale a 65 foot wall and hike over eight miles before he is finally rescued.
Throughout his journey, Ralston recalls friends, lovers (Clemence Poesy), family, and the two hikers (Amber Tamblyn and Kate Mara) he met before his accident. Will they be the last two people he ever had the chance to meet? A visceral, thrilling story that will take an audience on a never before experienced journey and prove what we can do when we choose life.
In 2003, Aron Ralston (James Franco) prepares for a day of canyoneering in Canyonlands National Park in Utah and drives to the trailhead at night. The next morning, he bikes through the park, aiming to cut 45 minutes off the guide book’s estimate for the time needed to reach his destination. He is on foot, running along a bare rock formation when he sees two hikers, Kristi (Kate Mara) and Megan (Amber Tamblyn), apparently lost.
Ralston convinces the pair that he’s a trail guide and offers to show them a much more interesting route than the one they had been trying to find. He leads them through narrow canyons, including a blind jump into an underground pool, where the three film themselves repeating the plunge using Ralston’s video camera. As they part company, Kristi and Megan invite Ralston to a party they’re holding the next night, though they doubt he will show.
Ralston continues into Blue John Canyon, through a narrow passage where boulders are suspended, wedged between the walls of rock. As he descends, one boulder is jarred loose, falling after Ralston to the bottom of the canyon and pinning his arm against the canyon wall, trapping him. He initially yells for help, but nobody is within earshot. As he resigns himself to the fact that he is on his own, he begins recording a video diary on his camera and using his pocket multi-tool to attempt to chip away at the boulder. He also begins rationing his water and food.
As he realizes his efforts to chip away at the boulder are futile, he begins to attempt to cut into his arm, but finds his knife too dull to break his skin. He then stabs his arm, but realizes he will not be able to cut through the bone. He finds himself out of water and is forced to drink his own urine. His video logs become more and more desperate as he becomes delusional, dreaming about relationships and past experiences (including a former lover (Clémence Poésy), family (Lizzy Caplan, Treat Williams, Kate Burton), and the two hikers he met before his accident). After reflecting upon his life, he comes to the realization that everything he has done has led him to this ordeal and that he was destined to die alone in the canyon.
Finally, after five days, he gathers the will to apply enough force to his forearm to break it and severs his arm with the dull knife, fashioning a crude tourniquet out of rope and using a carabiner to tighten it. He wraps the stump of his arm and takes a picture of the severed portion he is leaving behind. He then makes his way out of the canyon, where he is forced to rappel down a 65-foot rock face and hike several miles before finally running into a family on a day hike, exhausted and covered in blood. The family sends for help and Ralston is evacuated by helicopter.
Boyle had been wanting to make a film about Ralston’s ordeal for four years. Boyle wrote a treatment for the film and Simon Beaufoy wrote the screenplay. Boyle describes 127 Hours as “very much a British film,” and as “an action movie with a guy who can’t move.” He also expressed an interest for a more intimate film than his previous film, Slumdog Millionaire (2008): “I remember thinking, I must do a film where I follow an actor the way [Darren Aronofsky] did with The Wrestler. So 127 Hours is my version of that.”
News of the World reported in November 2009 that Cillian Murphy was Boyle’s top choice to play Ralston. In January 2010, James Franco was cast as Ralston.
Boyle and Fox Searchlight announced plans to create 127 Hours in November 2009. Filming began in March 2010 in Utah. Boyle intended to shoot the first part of the film with no dialogue. By June 17, 2010, the film was in post-production.
The amputation scene was the handiwork of makeup effects artist Tony Gardner and his team at Alterian, Inc., with the help of medical professionals. They strove to be medically accurate in every minute detail, as Danny Boyle shot the entire scene in one take (with multiple cameras) and every aspect of the scene needed to be functional as well as realistic.
127 Hours (2010)
Directed by: Danny Boyle
Starring: James Franco, Kate Mara, Amber Tamblyn, Lizzy Caplan, Elizabeth Hales, Kate Burton, Bailee Michelle Johnson, Clémence Poésy, Peter Joshua Hull, Pieter Jan Brugge, Parker Hadley
Screenplay by: Simon Beaufoy, Danny Boyle
Production Design by: Suttirat Anne Larlarb
Cinematography by: Enrique Chediak, Anthony Dod Mantle
Film Editing by: Jon Harris
Costume Design by: Suttirat Anne Larlarb
Set Decoration by: Les Boothe, Cynthia A. Neibaur
Art Direction by: Christopher R. DeMuri
Music by: A.R. Rahman
MPAA Rating: PG-13 for language and some disturbing violent content / bloody images.
Studio: Fox Searchlight Pictures
Release Date: November 5, 2010