Boyle thought Franco was stoned when they first met
Danny Boyle thought James Franco was stoned when they first met.
The Oscar-winning director had reservations about casting the actor in the lead role in ‘127 Hours’ – which follows the story of mountaineer Aron Ralston - after finding him to be distant and monosyllabic when he first approached him.
'127 Hours' shows how Ralston was forced to cut off his own arm after becoming trapped by a boulder when a climbing expedition in Robbers Roost, Utah, in 2003.
Danny admitted: “I thought, like a lot of people do, that James was stoned. It wasn’t a great meeting. But then I spoke to someone at Fox who said he was just sussing us out. And he wasn’t high – he’s abstemious, he doesn’t even drink.”
The English filmmaker has also revealed he was thrilled by the success of ‘Slumdog Millionaire’ as he knew it would make it much easier to get ‘127 Hours’ – which he acquired the rights to in 2006 - made.
He explained: “When ‘Slumdog…’ took off, I thought, ‘We’ve got a chance now to make this film.’
“We had credit in the bank and I felt we could persuade the studio to back what must have been a terrifying prospect. But I never saw the film in that way – I saw it as compelling beyond belief.”
