‘127 Hours’: Director Danny Boyle’s key scene

“The chat show scene, which Simon wrote. It’s funny — and it comes after [Ralston’s] lowest possible moment, which is when he dreams of his escape in the storm. He wanted to go and say something to the girl, but he’s speechless. And then he wakes up, and realizes he’s still in the canyon and it’s four days in. It can’t get any worse. And yet, narrative wise, it has to get worse. It has to decline even further. And how can you do that, and not send everybody out of the theater? Simon wrote this scene — and the tone is so risky — but it does so many things. It changes the tone in what is an apparently enjoyable way, but if you think about it deeply, everything is getting much, much worse. And it also sets up the most tender message of all. So it refreshes your palate, scrubs everything clean. And then Aron says, ‘Mom, Dad, I haven’t appreciated you in my heart in the way that I could have done.’ In Aron’s original messages, it’s the most tender thing he says about anyone or anything.”

— director Danny Boyle