INTERVIEWS

James Franco stars in "127 Hours," the true story of a man who was forced to cut his own arm of after a tragic climbing accident. The film, which is directed by Danny Boyle, is being released by Fox Searchlight on November 5. 

Something new

Franco felt strongly drawn to the role from the minute he heard about the project – and it turned out to be like nothing he’d done before.   “One of the reasons I wanted to do this role is because it is made up of so many little personal moments, those moments we all have when you’re completely alone,” he says.  “I felt like that was a side of me I could really understand and tap into. The story is basically about a man confronted with his own death and figuring how to get back to life – it’s a human situation I don’t think has been explored very much in films before.  I also thought it was a tremendous opportunity to tell a story through minute physical actions and these kinds of private soliloquies Aron has when he talks to his video camera.  It was very different from most roles.”  

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He continues, “It was also very unique because I really don’t interact with other actors for most of the movie.  I love working with other actors, but this was something unusual and challenging. The focus of attention was completely different.  It was like I had to learn to act with the space around me, with the rocks, with the canyon, with the camera.”

Portraying Aron Ralston

Although Franco did spend time getting to know Ralston and went on a long hike together to see Aron in his element, neither he nor Boyle wanted to try to mimic Ralston’s physical characteristics on screen.  “Danny’s take on the movie was that it was really about penetrating this incredible situation Aron finds himself in,” explains Franco.  “So we didn’t want it to be about trying to re-create a real person but, rather, about trying to really feel this human experience.”  

Working with Danny Boyle

Franco credits Boyle with helping him to do that to, at times to an unsettling degree, by keeping him in narrow, uncomfortable spaces and off-kilter throughout the shoot.  He was squeezed so tightly into the replicated canyon set that he would emerge from shooting days with bruises, rashes and scars.  “It was a physically taxing shoot for me,” he admits.  “But it was such an interesting situation to portray and Danny is an amazing director.  He’s very energetic and passionate but he always gets what he wants.” 

Talking directly into a video camera in place of the usual movie dialogue was also something Franco had to wrap his mind around.  “It was almost like doing an old-fashioned Shakespearean soliloquy, where you’re talking right to the audience,” he notes.  “It was very unusual for a film.”  

“What I loved is that Danny took a completely different approach than any other filmmaker to making a movie set in nature.  Instead of using nature’s slow pace, he gives it a wonderful urban pulse and feel,” sums up Franco. 

Diving further into the role

To dive even further into the role, Franco worked out at a climbing gym and slimmed down to Ralston’s sleek, outdoorsy physique.  He read books about climbers and adventurers – and he also looked inside himself to really ask if he could actually do what Aron did to survive.  “I thought about how drastic his circumstances were – that it was life and death,” Franco says.  “I’m pretty squeamish about blood, even in the doctor’s office, but you know, in that situation I’d get over it.  I’d like to think that I’d try something and that I couldn’t just sit there.”  

He goes on, “This character really goes up against death and to a certain extent, Aron had to accept that he might die in order to take the risk to get free.  And for me, that’s a lot of what this was about, looking at how a person copes with being alone, being afraid, being in pain, and how that gets him right down to the essentials of existence.”