Interview: Danny Boyle On Recreating Pain for 127 HOURS
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- Last Updated: Tuesday, 12 November 2013 06:05
- Written by Lupe Haas
When it came to direct James Franco's scene where he cuts through his arm to free himself from the boulder, the Slumdog Millionaire director described to James the differences between men and women's experience of pain.
"Men have no idea about the pain he (Aron) goes through. Women kind of have an access to it," he told CineMovie in our exclusive sit down interview. The feelings are accessible to women who have gone through child birth. Mothers experience not just pain, according to Boyle, but something beyond. "It's a transition to something greater than the pain. Pain is like an ecstasy -- like a Greek thing -- its not just like violence. You are going somewhere. You are going onto plateau's of different experiences that are beyond what we normally associate with pain."
Boyle takes his knowledge of pain from his first-born's birth. He describes the experience of watching his wife go through labor as nothing he's ever seen in his life. He saw his wife reach a level of pain which transitioned to something "more important than just pain. Men's reference point to pain has to do more with "destruction and pain" or "ending something," according to the 28 Days Later director. Men do not have that concept of "private pain with kids birth." He relayed these observations with James before yelling action.
The media has reported that some viewers of 127 HOURS either fainted or walked out during the amputation scene. Audiences are used to the gruesome nature of horror movies lately with films like Saw but does the pain of watching the amputation scene more real knowing it actually happend in real life? Danny Boyle doesn't seem to think so calling it "fiction" because we are watching an actor do it. "You know on some fundamental level that James is not cutting his arm." Interestingly, Danny believes women are not bothered by horror stories such as an amputation because they have lived through the same type of agony associated with birthing a child.
While Danny gave direction to James on how to play the scene, Danny admits he had to give up control to James. The British director is accustomed to working with groups of actors. In a group, the director can manipulate scenes so that actors are reacting to each other but with James being the sole actor for most of the film, Danny trusted James to bring truth to the scene. He was "amazed" with James' performance. James Franco's turn as Aron in 127 HOURS has earned him a Golden Globe nomination for Best Actor in a Motion Picture--Drama. The 127 HOURS director has also garnered accolodes with nominations including Best Director and Best Film for the Independent Spirit Awards. With the award-season beginning, 127 HOURS will continue being a topic of conversation leading into 2011.
127 HOURS is now playing in select movie theaters.
