MTV: In terms of the music, it's A.R. Rahman doing the score again after
"Slumdog." Can you speak a little about what he's done?
Boyle: We've got a couple of songs, and the rest of the work is more
guitar-based. Some of it is solo guitar, which felt appropriate given the
nature
of the story. Got a couple of wonderful songs. Free Blood ("Never Hear Surf
Music Again") at the beginning, which we used for the trailer. Music has always
been a big part of a movie for me, and I hope we've done another one justice
we've what we've used.
Full Interview :
http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1647109/20100902/story.jhtml
At the 81st Academy Awards in early 2008, Danny Boyle's "Slumdog Millionaire"
took home eight awards, including Best Director, while Darren Aronofsky's "The
Wrestler" lost both categories in which it was nominated.
But that didn't stop Boyle from wanting to emulate Aronofsky's cinematic
approach for his next project. Thus, "127 Hours." follows one central
character,
in much the same way that "The Wrestler" focused on Mickey Rourke's damaged
grappler. Boyle's new film is based on the true story of an avid outdoorsman
who
becomes trapped under a boulder in the wildness and is forced to saw off his
own
arm to escape. James Franco plays the unfortunate hiker.
The film is one that Boyle has wanted to make for years. Only after virtually
sweeping the Oscars, and being inspired by Aronofsky's style, though, did he
move forward with the project. As part of MTV News' Fall Movie Preview, Boyle
called us to chat about how his career has changed since "Slumdog," the
challenges of making a film about a man who can't move, and why "127 Hours" may
not be the ideal date movie.
MTV: How are you?
Danny Boyle: Good. We're mixing "127 Hours" at Pinewood, and we've been kicked
out of the big theater by "Harry Potter." We're next door in the little theater.
MTV: I guess if you're going to be kicked out by anybody, they have a big thing
going on.
Boyle: They're not even here! Do you know what they do? It's a big bank holiday
this weekend here in Britain, and we're working right through the weekend to
get
it ready, and what they do is they book the theater for months and nothing
happens! It's like, "Really?"
MTV: Well, it is great to talk to you. So, you had, you know, a little bit of
success with "Slumdog Millionaire." Coming off of that, why this one?
Boyle: I'd always wanted to do it. The story has an instant tension that draws
everyone's attention to it. So many people remember it vaguely. But it wasn't
that. I wanted to make the film and I tried to get it going. Of course, it's a
tough subject, but I had a way of doing it that wasn't what you think. It would
be compelling and would occupy you completely as a viewer so that the whole
barrier — it's just one guy stuck in one place — that wouldn't become an issue
because you'd be with him. You would be him, in effect. That was always my take
on it. Anyway, once "Slumdog" kicked off, [producer] Christian [Colson] and I
thought, "This is our chance to make this." There's no other moment in our
careers when we'll get a chance to make something like this, which is really a
tricky prospect for any studio or financier. So we worked on it, we prepared a
script, and then we had to find an actor. That's the key to this. Beyond our
vision of it, you have to have someone who's not only going to share the vision
but actually going to carry it much more than any film like "Slumdog" or a
thriller or a big love story or anything that has a plot or the dynamics
changing between two people. It's just one guy. We got Franco. He's amazing in
it.
MTV: There are a couple ways to go off something like "Slumdog." Either you go
with the project you've been wanting to make, or I'm sure you were offered
every
project under the sun.
Boyle: I don't think like that. It's such an amazing thing that happened that
you have to take advantage in the right way. It's why we wanted to get ["127
Hours"] ready for Toronto, because that's where we started with "Slumdog." We
wanted to take back there a film that had been made in its shadow. It's
wonderful to do that, because suddenly it's not an intimidating shadow, it's
liberating because it's a success that's allowed you to make something you've
always wanted to make and you believe but wouldn't get made otherwise. Even
though people, before they see the film, might think it a peculiar choice, but
the film is really accessible. Whether they can get people into [the theater],
I
don't know. If you want to take a girl on a Friday and say, "What should we go
and see?" it's tough to say, "It's a film about a guy who cuts his arm off.
What
do you think?" But once you're in there, it's a big story for everyone. It's a
very universal thing.
MTV: What are the challenges for you as a filmmaker, keeping things dynamic,
and
the challenges for an audience? Do you imagine them feeling what Franco is
feeling for the length of the movie?
Boyle: I always thought of it as the opposite of inert. Superficially, it looks
inert, because he's stationary. But I'd always thought of it as an action
movie.
He can't move, but it's an action movie. That's what we've tried to do. I'm not
going to brag now. You guys will have to decide whether we've succeeded or not,
but that was the intention. I remember when we were doing "Slumdog," and Darren
Aronofsky showed up with "The Wrestler." It's one of those films that you look
at as a director and think, "That's it. You just follow this one actor around."
It's different from his other movies, and it's different from my other movies,
but I wanted to make one like that, where it's just you and an actor.
MTV: I heard you talk about the videos that the hiker, Aron Ralston, took when
he was stuck, and how he changed over those few days as he became dehydrated.
Was the physical transformation difficult for Mr. Franco? How do you accomplish
that in the film?
Boyle: You can't, because you can't do it safely. It's not like carbohydrate
loss. You hear about an actor losing weight or putting on weight for parts. You
can't do that, because it happens over six days. He starts as an incredibly
healthy young man and then this footage I saw by the end, when he'd been
without
water, the difference is shocking. It's a vanishing. The only way you could do
it is through CG, and we didn't want to take that approach. We didn't want to
use makeup, but so much of the film is so close. It's an intimate film. We
tried
to shoot in sequence to let James internally track it. We've not been able to
move stuff. He was there for six days, and we'd go, "Can you move that line
from
day two to day four?" You can't move it, because the journey is no nuanced. He
becomes completely different. He's a different person on each day. We've done
it
through James, rather than CG or weight loss.
MTV: What about the moment when he slowly cuts off his own arm? How long a
sequence is that in the film? How much do we see and experience?
Boyle: It takes him 45 minutes in reality. It is in the film, obviously. The
time it takes is respected by the filmmakers. We don't cut away, pardon the
expression, and come back and it's gone. But it is cathartic, and that's the
key
thing. The whole idea of the film is you enter the journey with him and you
don't cut away to a lot of people looking for him. It's an immersive
experience,
and it's cathartic when he does it because it's a relief for everyone and a
triumph in some way as well.
MTV: In terms of the music, it's A.R. Rahman doing the score again after
"Slumdog." Can you speak a little about what he's done?
Boyle: We've got a couple of songs, and the rest of the work is more
guitar-based. Some of it is solo guitar, which felt appropriate given the
nature
of the story. Got a couple of wonderful songs. Free Blood ("Never Hear Surf
Music Again") at the beginning, which we used for the trailer. Music has always
been a big part of a movie for me, and I hope we've done another one justice
we've what we've used.
