According to a tweet, of all things, from Production Weekly, James Franco has signed on to take the starring role in Danny Boyle’s 127 Hours, a true-life tale about Aron Ralston, a mountaineer who lost his right arm in a climbing accident in 2003.
Ralston had been climbing in a canyon in Utah when a loose boulder pinned his right arm against a rock wall. He remained rooted to the spot for, well, 127 hours until he finally – and you may want to look away now if you hate spoilers or have a sensitive disposition – hacked off his arm with a dull knife, then scramble down a 65-foot wall and hike to safety beneath the baking Utah sun. In other words, the man has balls of steel, as well as a nifty new prosthetic arm.
Ralston’s is clearly an inspirational tale that should make for a great movie – not to mention a wonderful role, and challenge, for Franco. The gifted actor has been dedicating himself largely to comedy of late – when he’s not appearing on US daytime soap, General Hospital, as a piece of performance art, that is - but 127 Hours should give him something to get his teeth into. No word yet if the film will largely be a one-man show, but we're already thinking that, if Franco knocks this one out of the park, he could well be bothering Oscar next year.
Boyle is currently writing the script with his **Slumdog Millionaire **scribe, Simon Beaufoy, with filming set to start in Utah in March. Needless to say, we’re hugely excited about this one. In fact, we’d give our… no, we’re not going to go there.
Thanks to Cinematical for the heads-up. We really should start following Production Weekly.