James Franco Spends 127 HOURS With Danny Boyle

Take a good, long look at that man you see in the picture above.  He has just signed on to star in JACKASS 3-D, where, in which, he will be cutting off his own arm.  What’s more, none other than Danny Boyle has signed on to direct.

Okay, part of this is true, as Production Weekly announced on their Twitter feed that Franco has signed on to star in Boyle’s next film, 127 HOURS.  Franco will be playing the role of Aron Ralston, a mountain climber who, in May of 2003, found himself pinned under a boulder in the Utah mountains.  Ralston was forced to amputate his lower right arm with a dull knife in order to survive.

I remember mentioning back when this project was first announced that Boyle and crew would need an actor who could dominate the screen by himself for a majority of the film.  Franco, who has found himself in eclectic roles of varying degrees over the past, few years, is a prime contender to break onto the dramatic scene with this film.  If he can pull it off, there are surely to be awards coming his way in the next year or two.

Filming is set to begin in early March in Utah.