We guessed as much a few weeks ago.
Oscar-winning director Danny Boyle has settled upon his next project and yes, it’s the Aron Ralston survival mountain tale which now has a name in, “127 Hours.”
Ralston is the American mountain climber who made headlines in 2003 when he was forced to amputate part of his arm with a dull knife, after it became pinned under a boulder in a hiking accident. He had to then traverse dangerous mountain peaks before he was finally rescued.
Fox Searchlight has green lit the project which will start shooting next year (Boyle said March in a recent interview) with an eye to hit theaters before the end of 2010 (Oscar season naturally). French film company Pathe is working in partnership with Searchlight, presumably because even with Boyle, this one-man act tale might not be the most commercial project they’ve ever released.
Boyle was eyeing Ryan Gosling to play the part a few months ago, but apparently the role is wide open at the moment. Perhaps that’s because no script exists yet. Boyle apparently wrote a treatment and “Slumdog Millionaire” scribe, Simon Beaufoy, is in talks to write he final script. DealMemo notes whoever gets the part has most of the entire film to himself, ala Tom Hanks in “Cast Away.”