Aron Ralston meets James Franco: 127 Hours trailer skips the surgery

The first trailer for 127 Hours, director Danny Boyle's much-anticipated movie about amped-up Colorado climber Aron Ralston, is now making the rounds of websites and moviehouses. It's sure to whet appetites for the flick, teasing audiences with impending disaster while keeping the gore offscreen...

By Alan Prendergast

August 25, 2010

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The first trailer for 127 Hours, director Danny Boyle's much-anticipated movie about amped-up Colorado climber Aron Ralston, is now making the rounds of websites and moviehouses.

It's sure to whet appetites for the flick, teasing audiences with impending disaster while keeping the gore offscreen.

Although he's notched numerous impressive routes in his career, Ralston is best known for a 2003 canyoneering adventure in Utah that went all wrong. Pinned by a falling boulder, he ended up amputating his own arm.

The ordeal led to massive media coverage, a best-selling book entitled Between a Rock and a Hard Place, and now the inevitable movie, starring James Franco in a part that most actors would give their right arm to -- well, maybe not.

The film is scheduled for release in early November (just in time for the Starz Denver Film Festival). The trailer promises a we-dive-into-gritty-subculture-action of previous Boyle works (e.g., Trainspotting, Slumdog Millionaire) with only a closing hint of the grim decision Ralston faced in the canyon 127 hours into his misadventure.

For the trailer, see below.

Alan Prendergast is a former staff writer at Westword and is now a senior contributor. He writes about various topics but primarily focuses on news. He’s contributed to Rolling Stone, Los Angeles Times, Outside, USA Today, Men's Journal and other publications and is the author of two nonfiction books, Gangbuster: One Man's Battle Against Crime and The Poison Tree: A True Story of Family Violence and Revenge. He’s earned numerous accolades for his work including the Eugene Pulliam National Journalism Writing Award and two national feature writing awards from the Society of Professional Journalists.

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