Published August 4, 2010 08:42PM
On day two of the Outdoor Retailer Show in Salt Lake City, I headed over to an air conditioned, cold beer serving tent for a sneak peak of the Aron Ralston movie 127 Hours. Coming out in early November and directed by Danny Boyle, most recently of Slumdog Millionaire fame, the movie is based on Aron’s life story as told in the book “Between a Rock and a Hard Place”.
In case the book title didn’t jog your memory about who Aron Ralston is, let me recap: he sawed off his own arm after it was pinned under a boulder in a slot canyon. The movie preview featured a few minutes with Mr. Boyle and a brief behind-the-scenes look at the making of the movie which includes a lot of quesily real bloodshed. Aron is played by the appropriately angst-ridden James Franco.
The snippet of the movie I saw sets the stage for Aron’s horrifying…127 hours. He is immediately portrayed as carefree and careless (no bicycle helmet!) and is shown flirting and carousing with two girls he happens to meet in the backcountry (insert Hollywood element perhaps) before he runs off only to get pinned under the boulder by his lonesome moments later. I don’t recall if this is a true timeline of events, but the Utah slot canyon scenery is spectacular.
As part of the promotion for the film a website called 127DefiningMoments.com has been set up for people to share “their own life-changing or death-defying experiences in the great outdoors.”
–Katie Herrell