127 Hours Screening

If you follow me on Facebook, you probably saw me talking about going to a free screening of 127 Hours. For those who don't know, 127 Hours is a movie about real-life hiker Aron Ralston and how he got his arm stuck between a boulder and rock wall and was trapped for, yep... 127 hours. The film stars James Franco (Spider-Man, Pineapple Express, Milk) and is written and directed by one of my favorite directors in the world, Danny Boyle. Boyle already has quite the resume with films like Trainspotting, The Beach, 28 Days Later, and the film that won him an Academy Award, Slumdog Millionaire. I've enjoyed Mr. Boyle's films since Trainspotting and pretty much everything after that. Yes, I even liked Sunshine despite it going into slasher movie mode.

Anyway, I was able to score tickets to the screening that Danny Boyle was going to be at and attended last Thursday night at AMC Pacific Place 11 in downtown Seattle. I invited my co-worker Brad who is familiar with Boyle's work already. When we got to the theatre, there was a long line of people waiting, but I wasn't too worried about not getting in. While we were standing in line and talking, I quickly spotted Danny Boyle walking into Gordon Biersche. I don't think anyone in the line recognized him or noticed him there because I was the only one that pointed at him and said, "That's Danny Boyle."

At one point, Mr. Boyle went to the restroom and I contemplated waiting for him outside to snap a picture with him. I joked that I should just stand next to him at the urinal and snap a photo. However, by the time I gathered up the courage to wait for him, he was heading back into the restaurant. I was dumbfounded on how no one was saying anything to him.

We were slowly let into the theatre in groups of 20 or so. When it was our group's turn to go in, the theatre employee cut off the people behind us. I figured they would still get in somehow, but when we got into the theatre itself, it was already jam packed. Brad and I couldn't find two seats next to each other at first. We sat separately for a while, but eventually noticed two seats together near the front. That means the 75+ people behind us in line probably did not make it in. Wow. I really didn't think it would be that close.

Danny Boyle was introduced and we all clapped. He was very energetic and couldn't wait to show us his movie. I can only imagine what that feeling must be like. Probably one of the ultimate highs.

A quick comment on the film, but I will be writing a full review later: Very good, but not my favorite Danny Boyle movie. The most intense film I have had to watch in theatres since The Hurt Locker. Literally sweating by the end of it. Great film about community and people.

When the film finished, Danny Boyle came back out with producer Christian Colson for a Q&A session with the audience. Nothing insanely interesting to note. If you go to the trivia section on IMDb, you can read about a lot of the stuff he talked about. He did mention that his next project was a play about Frankenstein in England. He is also going to be directing the opening ceremonies of the 2012 Olympics.

After the Q&A, most people left, but I stuck around to try and get a picture with Mr. Boyle. I didn't have to wait long and someone was kind enough to snap this photo of us.

Not a very good picture because I had to take it with my cell phone; cameras are not allowed in screenings, but I probably could have gotten away with one. Still, enough proof for myself that I got to meet one of my favorite directors of all-time. Afterward, I shook his hand, thanked him and said that the movie was "great". It's a night I will never forget now. The movie opened in only four theatres over the weekend, but it earned $266,000. That's a per-theater average of $66.5K; the second highest of the year. It really is a good film and I recommend seeing it as soon as it's in a theatre near you.

Update 11/12/10: My review is up.