WWTW Interview: Aron Ralston, the inspiration behind ‘127 Hours’ – Part I

Aron Ralston had no desire to see his life story turned into a slick, star-driven biopic.

The Boulder, Colo. resident envisioned his harrowing escape from a Utah canyon as a documentary, or possibly even a film like “Touching the Void” which offered a reality-based recreation of events.

“ I almost had a blinding fixation to have the authenticity of my situation to come across,” Ralston says.

Director Danny Boyle changed his mind, and not because Ralston was overwhelmed by Boyle’s resume. At the time, he had only seen one of the Oscar-winning director’s films.

“We had a common ground. His vision was very truthful and actual,” Ralston says of Boyle’s newest film, “127 Hours.” “We wanted the same thing, an uplifting story, not a depressing story. Or, God forbid, a horror movie.”

Heaven knows Ralston’s adventure will frighten anyone who ever wanted to push themselves in the great outdoors.

In 2003, the adventure-seeking Ralston, played by James Franco in the film, biked to a Utah canyon for an afternoon of rugged hiking. A boulder shifted out from under him while passing over some tricky terrain and he fell to the canyon floor, his right arm suddenly pinned under a rock. His amazing escape, one which involved the ultimate test of self-preservation, made him famous and led to write the memoir “Between a Rock and a Hard Place.”

Boyle told the story he wanted to tell in “127 Hours,” but the director didn’t leave Ralston out of the project.

“During the screenplay phase, Danny had me really involved. I felt respected. Not everybody would have done that,“ he says.

Ralston still felt uncomfortable with letting his life story go.

“I remember pulling my hair out over the screenplay, seeing tiny factual discrepancies … and they wouldn’t change them,” he says with a laugh. His wife, a painter, gently set him straight.

“If you pick too many nits, you’ll spoil the creativity,” she told him. “You’ve got to be careful with that.”

Part II: Ralson shares how the film helped him grow closer to his family and friends.

(Photo: Aron Ralston on the set of “127 Hours” – Photo Credit: Sinuhe Shrecengost)

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