Well, here’s a surprise. At least casting wise.
Production Weekly has tweeted that James Franco has taken the lead role in Danny Boyle’s “127 Hours,” and the film is scheduled to start filming in March in Utah.
The project had been in development most of the fall, and was earmarked as Fox Searchlight’s Oscar contender for the 2011 ceremonies, but had Ryan Gosling rumored to be attached as the lead for a long time. The trades actually specified that Boyle was actively seeking Gosling and Cillian Murphy was also rumored at one point (but those later reports came from the British press and were very dubious to begin with). We guess they went in another direction, but Franco is certainly not a bad choice and his willingness to challenge himself in the last few years has been heartening.
Boyle’s ambitious project is based on the true story about mountain climber Aron Ralston who was trapped on a hiking trip by a boulder and was forced to amputate the bottom half of his own arm in order to survive. It was not an easy decision to make. Ralston spent five days trapped by the boulder, fighting dehydration and starvation, before making his decision, and then he walked several miles before being found and rescued by helicopters.
This much more harrowing stuff than the crowd-pleasing “Slumdog Millionaire” and we’re kind of glad Boyle is challenging himself with the sort of material he’s never done before. But if Boyle has proven anything over his career, is that he can shift from genre to genre with amazing ease, and remarkable ability. As we previously reported, Boyle wants the first half of the film to be nearly silent and dialogue free and we hope he gets to have his way. And don’t expect any Tom-Hanks-talking-to-a-volleyball tricks. Just a guy, on a mountain, slowly dying. Wow. We hope the studio stands aside and he gets to have his way but regardless, this is definitely a film we’re looking forward to.
As for Franco, 2010 is shaping up to be a busy year for the actor with the his other reality-based drama, “Howl”premiering at Sundance (and probably making further festival rounds) and “Your Highness,” David Gordon Green’s medieval stoner comedy, hitting theaters in the fall.