Although Franco did spend time getting to know Ralston and went on a long hike together to see Aron in his element, neither he nor Boyle wanted to try to mimic Ralston’s physical characteristics on screen. "Danny’s take on the movie was that it was really about penetrating this incredible situation Aron finds himself in," explains Franco. 

"So we didn’t want it to be about trying to re-create a real person but, rather, about trying to really feel this human experience."

Franco credits Boyle with helping him to do that to, at times to an unsettling degree, by keeping him in narrow, uncomfortable spaces and off-kilter throughout the shoot. He was squeezed so tightly into the replicated canyon set that he would emerge from shooting days with bruises, rashes and scars. 

"It was a physically taxing shoot for me," he admits. "But it was such an interesting situation to portray and Danny is an amazing director.  He’s very energetic and passionate but he always gets what he wants."

Talking directly into a video camera in place of the usual movie dialogue was also something Franco had to wrap his mind around. "It was almost like doing an old-fashioned Shakespearean soliloquy, where you’re talking right to the audience," he notes. "It was very unusual for a film."

It was Boyle’s unconventional vision for the film that kept Franco inspired even as the production kept him shivering and agonizingly motionless in a frigid canyon, night and day. 
"What I loved is that Danny took a completely different approach than any other filmmaker to making a movie set in nature. 

"Instead of using nature’s slow pace, he gives it a wonderful urban pulse and feel," sums up Franco.

To dive even further into the role, Franco worked out at a climbing gym and slimmed down to Ralston’s sleek, outdoorsy physique. He read books about climbers and adventurers and he also looked inside himself to really ask if he could actually do what Aron did to survive. 

"I thought about how drastic his circumstances were that it was life and death," Franco says.  "I’m pretty squeamish about blood, even in the doctor’s office, but you know, in that situation I’d get over it. I’d like to think that I’d try something and that I couldn’t just sit there."

He goes on, "This character really goes up against death and to a certain extent, Aron had to accept that he might die in order to take the risk to get free. 

"And for me, that’s a lot of what this was about, looking at how a person copes with being alone, being afraid, being in pain, and how that gets him right down to the essentials of existence."

The filmmakers watched as Franco dove deeper and deeper into this personal abyss, then came out the other side. "I think James does work in this film of equal importance to what Danny has done.  It’s a kind of duet," comments Christian Colson. "Franco fully inhabited the character and it’s a very unique and amazing performance."

Despite the fact that the film focuses so intently on James Franco as Aron Ralston, finding a strong cast to fill the film’s supporting roles was equally important to the filmmakers. 

"When you’ve only got a few supporting characters, the emotional investment you make in them is heightened, and we were very aware of that," says Colson. "I especially love that Amber Tamblyn and Kate Mara as the two girls Aron meets at the beginning of his hike are so funny and light in their performances. 

"Even though it seems like their moment with Aron passes quickly, retrospectively it takes on this immense importance because they become his last real memories of human contact, of interacting, and feeling completely alive."

Even though she and Kate Mara are a kind of joyful, comic relief before the storm, Tamblyn notes that the experience of shooting the film was 'crazy athletic, with a lot of hiking, running and sweating.' 

But she also says, "It was a highlight of my life, to get to work with a master filmmaker in this gorgeous part of the country.  Kate and I had to create this soft, funny, easygoing atmosphere in the beginning of the film, something that would feel natural but would also be memorable enough to become truly important to Aron later.  That was exciting."

Playing Aron’s parents are Treat Williams and Kate Burton and his sister is played by Lizzy Caplan.  To take the role of Aron’s girlfriend - the young woman he regrets not opening up to as he fights for his life in the canyon - the filmmakers chose rising French actress Clémence Poésy, best known for playing Fleur Delacour in the Harry Potter film series.

"The scenes with Aron’s family and friends turned out very beautiful," says Colson. "They have this elegiac quality that makes you really feel Aron’s need to get back to the world and to the people he loves."

127 Hours is out now.

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