Danny Boyle to spend 127 HOURS with a guy who cut off his own arm

By Matt Holmes / June 25, 2011

The subject for Danny Boyle's first post-Oscar movie will be the extraordinary depths of the human spirit as Variety say he will next film climber Aron Ralston's story, a young guy who made the headlines in 2003 when he cut off his own arm to survive after six days of being trapped under an 800 pound boulder during a lone hike in Utah. His weapon of choice; a large swiss army knife!! Ralston, with one arm left and the other broken, after nearly a week without food, with barely any water or sleep... then had to rappel down a 65-foot sheer wall and hike out of the canyon in the hot midday sun to safety. Boyle teams with Fox Searchlight, and the movie will be titled 127 Hours. In what will surely be a great platform for a young actor to grab the opportunity of a lifetime to win an Oscar, Boyle is said to have challenged Ryan Gosling to take the part. Gosling is 28, Ralston was 27 during the ordeal. What an opportunity for Gosling, Oscar nominated for Half Nelson in 2007 and who has had a tough time in Hollywood since, a high profile firing on the set of Peter Jackson's The Lovely Bones being a career low he hasn't re-emerged from yet.

Boyle (left) Oscar in hand for Slumdog Millionaire, challenges Golsing (middle) to win one of his own by taking on the extraordinary true survival story of climber Aron Ralston (right). Slumdog Millionaire writer Simon Beaufoy is likely to come on board to scribe, based on Boyle's outline treatment. It's going to be a tough movie to write and in a way, an even harder movie to direct. Sure, we have seen one man shows work well before (Castaway, I Am Legend) but this is going to be in one location, claustrophobically filmed, and because I'm certain Boyle won't shy away... it'll be gruesome come the self-mutilation time. But it's an intense survival story and one that definitely deserves an adaptation but it ain't gonna be easy. Beaufoy, Boyle and if he agrees to the challenge - Ryan Gosling, will have to bring their A-Game for this one. It's not simply going to be a case of re-teaming the creative talent of Slumdog Millionaire to win an easy gold statue.

Expect this one to film Spring 2010 for a release later that year so it's challenging come Oscars 2011. And my, my... has Hollywood progressed from the days of Vertical Limit, that this kind of story can now be told?