When director Danny Boyle announced that he was going to take on the true story of mountain climber Aron Ralston, I thought he had gone crazy. Boyle’s last film, Slumdog Millionaire, won eight Oscars, including Best Motion Picture and Best Director, and grossed over $350M worldwide.
The world was his oyster, so why would he squander his opportunity by tackling an unfilmable story? If you recall, Aron Ralston was the hiker who survived a nasty fall while he was hiking in Utah. His arm was pinned beneath an 800-pound boulder, and Ralston faced starvation, dehydration, and exposure to the elements.
After five days he made the decision to amputate his own arm in order to escape. As if that weren’t bad enough, he then had to hike an additional eight miles to reach help. Against insurmountable odds, Ralston triumphed, and became a poster boy for the strength of the human spirit. Sure, it’s a compelling story, but who wants to see a movie about a guy pinned under a rock for five days?
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