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![American mountaineer Aron Ralston and actor James Franco on the making of <i>127 Hours</i>, the epic story of Ralston's dalliance with death in a Utah canyon for five days. By <a href="http://sharpformen.com/author/earl-dittman/">Earl Dittman</a><p lang="en-US">
<p>In his memoir, <em>Between A Rock and A Hard Place</em>, American mountaineer Aron Ralston recounts his terrifying experience of spending five days with his right forearm pinned under a boulder during a climb in a Utah canyon in May of 2003. After five days, the barely functioning Ralston, dying of thirst and having lost 40 pounds, realized the only way to make it out of his predicament was to cut himself free. Ralston used a dull knife to amputate his arm, giving himself just enough time to find help before his body would shut down from shock. Ralston video-taped much of his ordeal, which he would eventually show to Oscar-winning director Danny Boyle (<em>Slumdog Millionaire</em>) and actor/writer James Franco (<em>Milk</em>). Blown away by Ralston’s story, Boyle and Franco took on the project and aptly named it <em>127 Hours, </em>with Franco playing Ralston. Both men got in touch with us to chat about the making of the film, which has already been hailed as the best film of the year.</p>
<p><strong>What made you want to make the film </strong><em><strong>127 Hours</strong></em><strong>?</strong></p>
<p>FRANCO: “I was attracted to the amazing story. I thought that, just as a performer, a script like this was very exciting. There are a lot of contrasts in this movie. There is an incredibly intense situation, but there is humour. One of the most common things we hear is, ‘I’ve never had a movie experience like that,’ because you’re drawn into the character. That speaks to the way screenwriter Simon [Beaufoy] and [director] Danny structured the script. It’s an incredibly intimate kind of thing.”</p>
<p><strong>What did you do in order to become Aron Ralston? </strong></p>
<p>FRANCO: “We had discussions and Aron did some of the early work of walking us through and showing us some of the things that he did. But most importantly, he brought this ratty VHS tape that had the original video entries on it, and we all sat down and watched it. For me, it was incredibly powerful.”</p>
<p><strong>How so?</strong></p>
<p>FRANCO: “In the video, Aaron is in the middle of the situation not knowing whether he is going to survive and recording these messages up until an hour before he figures out how to get out. By the end, I was saying to myself, ‘Here is a guy that thinks he’s going to die and in some ways he’s accepted it.’”</p>
<p><strong>Aron, how did you feel showing that tape to complete strangers James and Danny?</strong></p>
<p>RALSTON: “I appreciated the interest, and I definitely recognized the intrigue of just knowing that there was real footage that existed. But, at the same time, it was a personal artefact that I made for my friends and family.”</p>
<p><strong>James, knowing the intimate nature of this tape, how did it affect your performance and relationship with Aron?</strong></p>
<p>FRANCO: I knew I was seeing something very private. For instance, there are some messages where Aron goes on for a long time about where his ashes should be spread and then says a couple funny things.</p>
<p><strong>Aron, how did the tapes of you trapped out in the wilderness affect your mom and dad the first time they saw them? When did they actually see them?</strong></p>
<p>RALSTON: “It was a very emotional experience for my parents to watch it with me. I mean, we literally went through an entire box of Kleenex sitting there. I had to pause it many times when we sat and watched it because of the impact that it had on my mom, she was watching her little boy disintegrate on film. I mean, she knew the story—this was four months after I’d been rescued, was home, rehabilitated—and she said, ‘Okay, I’m ready to watch it now.’ But it was so profound for her to really go through it and see me just dissolve on the camera. Like, there’s a human who was there in the beginning, but by the time you’re an hour through this footage five days have passed and I’ve lost almost 40 pounds off what was a pretty scrawny frame to begin with. So, it’s a human being who’s been decimated and turned into a ghost.”</p>
<p><strong>James, what where some of the things Aron said to you when you met for the first time?</strong></p>
<p>FRANCO: I said in the first meeting, ‘Aron, I love the way you faced death as a man alone, with dignity, and that you had the strength and the will to do that.’ Aron corrected me a little bit and said it wasn’t just himself: the main thing that gave him the strength to get out was his connection to the outside world and to his family. He said that the videos were not just a last message, but they were a way to connect to those people; and while he knew that they weren’t listening in that moment he felt a real connection. So, it’s given me an appreciation for the people in my life.”</p>
<p><strong>James, how did the experience of making this movie change your own life overall?</strong></p>
<p>FRANCO: “It’s given me an appreciation for life, for the people in my life. In our first meeting Aron asked me why I wanted to play this role and I told him I loved the way it strips down this character and this person. Everything that is familiar in our day to day lives keeps us from looking inward. For this character all of that is taken away. And it’s a man alone, facing death. I saw it as a real way to study what it is to be human, what is important in our lives and what really gives us strength.”</p>
<p lang="en-US">
<p><em>127 Hours</em> opened in Toronto on Nov. 12 and will open in Vancouver on Nov. 19 and in Calgary, Edmonton and Ottawa on Nov. 26.</p>
127 Hours](http://sharpformen.com/wp-content/gallery/127-hoursa/2010_127_hours_014.jpg)