& SIMON BEAUFOY

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 127 HOURS Shooting Draft - March 6, 2010
Revision: Yellow - March 13, 2010
Revision: Green - March 23, 2010
Revision: Goldenrod - April 4, 2010
Revision: Buff - April 10, 2010

Screenplay by Danny Boyle & Simon BeaufoyBased on: Between

a Rock and a Hard Place by Aron Ralston
Contact: Christian Colson
[email protected]
+44 207 845 6988
1 EXT. CROWD SCENES. TRIPTYCHS. 1
Black. A roaring, like the sea crashing against the shore,
growing louder.

The screen is split into three vertical panels. A triptych.

Sometimes the scenes on the panels will be different,
sometimes repeated images and sometimes the panels will merge
into one screen. But always, the theme is the crowd, people,
humanity, us.

The panels explode with people as a Mexican wave erupts in a

football stadium. Tens of thousands of fans rise and fall around
the arena.

More crowds; thousands and thousands of baseball fans rise as

one to their feet, roaring their approval at an unseen strike.

An army of adoring music fans stretch their yearning hands

towards an unseen singer on stage.
Even more crowds fill the panels. The throng of a million
pilgrims at the Kumbh Mela, a flash mob in Victoria Station, a
crowded dealing floor at the stock market, a million Catholics
in St Peter’s Square...

2 INT. ARON’S HOUSE. BEDROOM/ HALL/ LIVING ROOM. NIGHT. 2

Mixed into the triptychs of endless humanity, a lone shadow
crosses one of the panels. We are in a bedroom that could belong
to a student. Then, a phone rings. Shocking in this silent
world. The camera stops then moves through the house, the camera
our POV.

The camera stops in the doorway of the living room where the
phone is ringing. Eventually, the answer-phone clicks in.

PHONE
Hi, Aron here! Leave a message.
Business-like. We can’t get any kind of a fix on Aron’s
personality from this.

PHONE (CONT’D) Hey,

Aron, Sonja here. Again. I know
you’re probably gonna be away this
weekend but listen think about
what we’re gonna play. Please,
because we have to decide and
practice. It will be fun, I
promise. Oh, and please call Mom,
she’ll be worried. Later, A. Bye!
 2

The phone rings off, leaving nothing but a flashing red light in
the dark room. The camera moves back down the hall into the
bedroom again. We are its eyes.

3 INT. ARON’S HOUSE. NIGHT. 3

Then a hand reaches high and opens a cupboard door. Picks up a
mini cam-corder off a high shelf. Drops it in a back-pack.
Reaches in again, gets a climbing harness. The jingle of
carabiners. The hand clips a descender onto a loop on the
harness. A Camelbak pouch of water, another water bottle. All
drop in the rucksack.

The hand gropes blindly around the high shelf. Looking for
something else, something out of sight. We see a Swiss Army
Knife at the back of the shelf. His hand skims past it a couple
of times, millimeters away. Misses it.

Clearly giving up on this, the hand picks up a coil of climbing

rope, moves into another room. We move with the hand, not seeing
the person, just his efficient intent.

4 INT. ARON’S HOUSE. KITCHEN. NIGHT. 4

Cluttered surfaces. The hand reaches up, grabs a burrito wrapped
in a transparent sandwich bag, goes into a cupboard and takes
three energy bars, a bottle of Gatorade. The hand shuts the
cupboard, skims the messy surface, picks up a grapefruit on the
way past and moves towards the door. We hear a door shut. A key
turn. The sound of a truck door opening and shutting. An engine
starts with a roar.

5 INT. ARON’S TRUCK. NIGHT. 5

We are inside a 98 red Toyota Tacoma with a topper. It drives
down the silent Aspen Main Street. From the point of view of the
driver, we look to left and right, see the security lights from
various shop fronts, the empty streets. Still, we do not see the
driver.

6 EXT. ROAD. NIGHT. 6

The only vehicle on the road, the Toyota turns off the Main
Street and heads into the dark.
 3

7 INT. ARON’S TRUCK. NIGHT. 7

A hand slips a CD into the truck’s player. Music booms out.

For the first time, we see the owner of the truck: Aron Ralston,
27. We study his face for clues. Fit, tanned by the wind, not
the beach. Not giving much away.

The screen splits into two and then three, though at times there
appears to be no division at all.

8 A title card reads: 8

“Utah. The Canyonlands. The slickrock desert. The red dust and
the burnt cliffs and the lonely sky - all that which lies beyond
the end of the roads.”

Edward Abbey. Desert Solitaire.

9 EXT. ROAD. NIGHT. 9

Aron’s truck drives alone on the interstate road.

10 EXT. VARIOUS COMMERCIALS FOOTAGE. 10

Billboards, TV, cinema, www: commercial America sells everything
to us through every means. As many brand names as we can get.

11 INT. ARON’S TRUCK. NIGHT. 11

At the south-west edge of Green River, Aron drives under the
interstate into a landscape of obscurity. He looks to his right
and left. Not a single light perforates the absolute blackness
of the San Rafael Desert.

12 EXT. CITY. FREEWAY. NIGHT. 12

Overhead shot of a busy city freeway at night. The speeded up
headlights blurring into a thousand strings of shimmering
luminescence.

13 EXT. ARON’S TRUCK. NIGHT. 13

Three quarters of the screen is black. All we see are truck
lights running parallel with the darkness.

14 INT. ARON’S TRUCK. NIGHT. 14

Out of the black, a sign rears up. Next Service 110 miles.

15 EXT. ARON’S TRUCK. NIGHT. 15

 4

America’s challengers for the Tour de France flash by: a pack of

15 or so neon spirits. Night training.

C/U: watch.
A huge close-up of a sports watch. One of those chunky ones
with both analogue watch hands and a digital cut-in. The minute
hand makes a loud click as it hits the top of its arc. 10PM.

16 EXT. ROAD. NIGHT. 16

A BLM sign indicates that Horseshoe Canyon Trailhead is 47
miles ahead through the desert darkness.

17 EXT. ARON’S TRUCK. NIGHT. 17

The truck skids to a halt. Turns a sharp left down the trail and
bumps into the darkness.

18 INT. ARON’S TRUCK. NIGHT. 18

Aron’s whole upper body is pumping along to the music. Another
bright yellow sign flashes past. DANGER: FLASH FLOODS.

19 EXT. CANYON-SIDE. NIGHT. 19

We are high above the road by a canyon wall, a massive slice of
smooth rock on the edge of frame. On this rock are painted a
series of petroglyphs and pictographs carved and painted into
the rock by ancient civilisations.

The carved images materialise on different parts of the

triptych: superhumans hovering 8 feet high over groups of
indistinct animals, their long dark bodies and huge eyes more
extraterrestrial than human.

20 EXT. DESERT. NIGHT. 20

Tyres rushing across the desert grooves, pulling, snatching,
hard left and right. The rear of the truck fish-tails madly.

21 INT. ARON’S TRUCK. NIGHT. 21

Everything in the truck is bouncing up and down crazily. All
except the bike, locked down in the back of the truck, braced
solid. Suddenly, a small brown sign flashes past.

ARON.
Woah.
 5

He kicks down on the brakes.

22 EXT. ARON’S TRUCK. NIGHT. 22

The truck skids to a halt.

23 INT. ARON’S TRUCK. NIGHT. 23

ARON.
Nearly missed it!
Aron leans over to the rucksack on the passenger seat. Gets out
a small video camera and films the sign. The sign reads
“HORSESHOE CANYON”.

VIDEO POV- we see the sign, shakily filmed, as with a roar the
truck starts up again.
Still driving, now with one hand, Aron flicks on the interior
light. Turns down the music. Turns the camera round on himself.
VIDEO POV

ARON. (CONT’D)
Friday night, April 25th, two thousand
and three. Heading for Bluejohn Canyon.
Just me, the music and a whole lot of
night ahead. Love it.
He throws the video camera into the top of the back-pack, turns
up the music to ear bleed level.

24 Ext. ARON’S TRUCK. NIGHT. 24

From high up we see the truck take a sharp left, the headlights
barely penetrate the dark.

25 INT/EXT. ARON’S TRUCK. NIGHT. 25

Jackrabbits dart onto the road, racing him, darting left and
right as he chases them down. They dart away into the black.

25A EXT. ARON’S TRUCK. NIGHT. 25A

The truck’s headlights pick out three other vehicles and two
encampments at the Trailhead.

26 INT. ARON’S TRUCK. NIGHT. 26

 6

Aron turns off the music. Ejects the CD. Bangs open the glove-
box and flings the CD inside. Shuts the glove box.
The camera watches the plastic glove box for a longer moment
than seems necessary. Then, Aron’s hand comes back in, reaches
inside, roots around and gets out a multi-tool hidden at the
back. Slams the glove box again.

27 EXT. ARON’S TRUCK. NIGHT. 27

Aron gets out of the truck, expecting a head to pop out of a
tent. But silence. Stillness. Ghostly. He goes round to the back
of the truck, opens the doors.

28 INT. BACK OF ARON’S TRUCK. NIGHT. 28

Aron flings everything out of the way of his mat, clambers in
the back of the truck. The doors shut on the night.

END OF TRIPTYCH TITLE SEQUENCE.

Above the truck, unseen by Aron, the faint, pre-history trace of
a shooting star flashes across the dark sky. Then, black.

C/U watch.

The sports watch in massive close up.

The edge of a finger presses a button on the side. The stop-
watch hands ticks into life.

29 INT. BACK OF ARON’S TRUCK. DAY. 29

The doors smash open to reveal blistering sun. Aron’s bike
careers into it. We see the spectacular desert scenery for the
first time. Endless pink sands, painful blue sky.

30 EXT. DESERT. DAY. 30

VIDEO POV
The video camera is mounted on the handlebars, pointing up at
Aron’s face as he rides across the desert, jolting, skidding,
huge amounts of video drop-out and electronic chaos. But despite
all that, there’s Aron’s face, loving every moment of it.
ARON
 7

Blue John Canyon. Guidebook time to the

drop-in, two and a half hours. Aiming
to take 45 minutes off that. Yee-
hahhhh!
And with an adrenaline yell, he tips down a suicidal slope at
speed. He wears a bandana across his mouth to keep out the dust,
an old Phish t-shirt and lycra bike shorts. He is an advert for
extreme sports, the smile on his face and the complete control
over his bike telling us all we need to know.

31 EXT. DESERT. DAY. 31

Even uphill, Aron is hammering his way up the sandstone. Gasping
for oxygen, his legs screaming for rest, he pushes and pushes
until he crests the ridge. His mouth sucks on the tube from his
Camelbak rehydration system - a bladder of water in his back-
pack.

Big C/U.
Huge in camera, we see the air bubbles and the water being
sucked towards his parched mouth.

ARON
(utter delight.)
Ahhh.

God, that’s good. But no rest. He is off again, down, down the
steep slope, controlled skids dodging the boulders, an extreme
sports junkie at the top of his game - until....

32 EXT. DESERT. DAY. 32

Suddenly, his front wheel hits a sand trap. He is hurled
forwards over the handle bars, face first into the sand. His
toe-clips and his momentum bring the whole bike with him. The
bike has him trapped on the desert floor like a wrestling take-
down.
He sits up, looks around quickly to see if anyone saw - then
bursts out laughing. Pulls out his stills camera from his bag
and takes a a self-portrait snap of the mess.

Aron checks the time. He is up, back on the bike and away, not
in the least deterred by his crash. He is unstoppable.
 8

33 EXT. DESERT. DAY. 33

At what seems like the only tree for miles, he U-locks his bike
in the shade, pockets the keys, and jogs off into the desert,
scoffing a muffin as he goes.
34 EXT. APPROACH TO BLUE JOHN CANYON. DAY. 34
Aron is bum-sliding down a steep slab. Lands neatly on his feet
at the bottom. Then stops dead. As if the film has frozen.
Voices. Girls’ voices. A giggle. Definitely a giggle. Aron
listens. Checks his watch.

C/U: watch.

The huge second hand sweeps by.

35 EXT. DESERT. DAY. 35

Looks towards the canyon. Looks towards the direction of the
giggle.

Aron climbs up the other side of the slope.

36 EXT. APPROACH TO BLUE JOHN CANYON. DAY. 36

Aron looks down on two girls in their early twenties, staring at
a map. Kristi and Megan.
ARON
Hey.

They squint up at him haloed by the sun. They both look

surprised. You really don’t meet other people out here. They can
barely see him, whited out by sun, just an outline of human. He
scrambles down towards them. Lands as neatly as an acrobat right
next to them. As far as they are concerned, he’s just landed
from outer space. They take a step back.

MEGAN
Woah...

ARON
Hi. You doing Blue John Canyon, too?

KRISTI
Err, no, we’re headed for The Dome.
 9

ARON
Yeah?

KRISTI
But I think we’re-
MEGAN
- you’re KRISTI
Seeing as I’m today’s designated
mapreader, I’m... lost.

ARON
Okay, well, no problem. You’re... here.

He points to the map.

KRISTI
We are? (pretending to be in control)
Sure we are. I knew that.

Aron laughs.

ARON
And The Dome is here.
KRISTI
Oh.

ARON
Easy to miss the turn off.

KRISTI
No kidding. Err, hi, by the way.

ARON
Hi. I’ll take you back up there if you
like.

The girls look at each other. Don’t know how to break it to him.
Then he gets it.

ARON (CONT’D)
Oh, sorry. The Friday the 13th,
ChildKiller look.

He struggles with the bandana around his mouth.

ARON (CONT’D) I’m
really only a psychopath on
weekdays. And as it’s
Saturday...

He takes the bandana off with a flourish. Shrugs as if that’s

the best he can do with the materials available.
 10

ARON (CONT’D)
I can’t take this one off. It’s my face.
Kristi and Megan laugh. Aron laughs. Ice broken. He sticks out
his hand, extremely formal.

ARON (CONT’D)
Aron.

Kristi sticks hers out, equally formal.

KRISTI
Kristi. Allow me to introduce you to my
friend, Megan.

MEGAN
Pleasure to meet you, Mister Aron.
ARON
An honor.

And they shake too. And all laugh.

ARON (CONT’D)
So, you’re lost. And I’m a guide.

He looks at them, expectantly.

ARON (CONT’D)
I’m good.

The girls look at each other.

MEGAN
Sure. Why not.

Aron checks his watch. Puts his hand to it.

C/U WATCH.
Huge on the watch. With a click, the sweeping second hand comes
to a stop.

37 EXT. DESERT. DAY. 37

From high on the edge of the canyon we look down on the three
figures hiking their way along the bottom.

MEGAN
You biked from Horseshoe? That’s twenty
miles or more.
 11

ARON
Seventeen on the odometer.

MEGAN
(teasing)
Not seventeen and a half?

ARON
Seventeen point three, actually.

MEGAN
Okay. I got you. You’re one of those.

ARON
Yes, Ma’am. One of those.

They walk on, pleased to be together.

KRISTI
Spend a lot of time out here?

ARON
My second home.

38 EXT. CANYON. DAY. 38

They stop at a junction.

ARON
It’s this fork here.

KRISTI
Oh. Okay. Totally missed that. Glad we
bumped into you.

MEGAN
Yeah. What are the chances of that? I
mean, out here?

ARON
You go to the one place in America you
can guarantee you won’t run into some
weirdo and.... whaddya know!

They all laugh and head up the narrow canyon.

39 EXT. CANYON. DAY. 39

 12

Aron stops.

ARON
The guidebook route’s that way. But
there’s a better way in. The cool way.

MEGAN
(gently teasing)
Oh, the cool way, huh?

ARON
No kidding, it’s like the most fun you
can have with your clothes on- though,
honestly, it’s best without your clothes
on.
MEGAN
Aron Ralston...

ARON
Seriously, you’ll never forget it.

The girls look at each other.

ARON (CONT’D)
It’s a bit of a climb...
KRISTI AND MEGAN
We climb!

ARON
And a squeeze.

KRISTI AND MEGAN

We squeeze!

They all laugh.

40 EXT. NORTH WASH SLOT. DAY. 40

Kristi, Megan and Aron are suspended fifty feet up a thin slot
between two sheer walls of rock. Only the friction from their
bodies keeps them in place. Flat to the rock, they nudge their
way sideways like something out of an Egyptian painting. Aron is
in the lead, chatting away, oblivious to the giggling
nervousness of the two girls behind him.

MEGAN
- wait, you get us in here and now you
tell us you’re not a guide? You said...
 13

Aron plays up to her panic.

ARON
No, I’m an engineer. But this is what
I really want to do.

MEGAN
And I really want to be a super model.
Jesus, I mean, what if these two slabs
move?

KRISTI
They’ve been here for millions of years.
They’re not gonna move.

ARON
Sure they are.
MEGAN
What?

ARON
Everything is moving all the time. Let’s
hope it’s not today.

MEGAN
Great.

ARON
Nearly there.

KRISTI
Where?
ARON
Here.

The girls look puzzled.

ARON (CONT’D)
You just got to remember that it’s all
gonna be okay. See you down there!

And he relaxes his arms, shoulders, feet- all the things that
are wedging him tight into the crack. Instantly, he is falling
vertically down into the unknown. Megan screams, a genuine shout
of fear.
We see Aron drop through a large hole in the rock and launch
out of sight, into midair with a holler of joy.
 14

41 INT. DOME POOL. DAY. 41

He drops 60 feet through the hole in the roof of the rock dome
into the most exquisite emerald blue pool.

KRISTI O/S
Oh my God!

42 EXT. NORTH WASH SLOT. DAY. 42

They can’t see him, only hear the explosive crack of man on
water. He could be dead.

MEGAN
Jesus Christ! Aron! Are you okay? Aron?
Aron fills the cathedral dome with his version of a Phish song
at the top of his voice.
KRISTI
Listen to the guy. He’s okay.
MEGAN
He’s bat shit!

ARON O/S
C’mon! Fly! You can do it!

The two girls look at each other, petrified.

43 INT. DOME POOL. DAY. 43

We are in the pool with Aron. Slick wet hair, buzzing with
adrenaline. He is looking up through the hole at Kristi and
Megan who are sitting above him at the beginning of the slide,
looking
absolutely terrified.

ARON
Just let go! It’ll all be fine. Trust
me.

KRISTI
Trust you? I’ll kill you, Aron Ralston!
MEGAN You
love this really...
 15

44 EXT. NORTH WASH SLOT. DAY. 44

Kristi looks at Megan. Nods at the squeeze.

KRISTI
Well, I’m not going back, that’s for
sure. Shit.

Takes two deep breaths.

KRISTI (CONT’D)
Been nice knowing you, Megs.
And with a scream, she lets go. Crashes into the pool. A pause
and then a whoop of sheer joy.

KRISTI O/S
Go for it, Megan, it’s fine!

MEGAN
Oh, fuckfuckfuckfuckfuck....

And she lets go, too, and shoots into the abyss.

45 INT. DOME POOL. DAY. 45

Megan tumbles out of the sky towards them. Crashes into the blue
water. Comes up screaming. They bob together in the centre,
their breath coming in short excited bursts. The light seemingly
coming from beneath them and rippling over the cavernous
ceiling. They are laughing- at their own daring, at the
craziness of where they are, at being alive.

MEGAN Oh my
God, oh my God...

KRISTI
Again. We’ve got to go again.

They all look at each other, and simultaneously say...

ARON, KRISTI AND MEGAN
Camera!

46 EXT. OUTSIDE THE CAVE. LATER. 46

Lying on a slab of rock, they are drying off in the sun. The
remains of lunch surround them. Kristi is stretched out near
Aron, taking in the sun on her near naked body. Megan has taken
off most of her clothes to dry too.

Camera stills.
 16

Aron at the top of various snowy Colorado peaks. Some have

farreaching views, others are beset with snow flurries, Aron
only just visible underneath hood, helmet and balaclava.

ARON V/O
That’s Longs Peak, Holy Cross,
Capitol... the Maroon Bells.

But always, it’s just Aron, centre of frame, taking a photo of

himself.

KRISTI V/O
Could be anywhere.

ARON V/O
Big storm on Mt Princeton... I’m on
course to be the first person to solo
all the Fourteeners in winter.

MEGAN V/O
Always on your own?

ARON V/O
Umm, that’s the point of soloing. You’re
on your own.
Then we see Aron and Kristi who is holding the camera.
KRISTI
Why?

ARON
Nobody likes me.

MEGAN
Or that awful band you’re always
singing. Phish. Ugh.

ARON
Exactly. Nobody likes me or my music.
Gotta go solo.

But Kristi really wants to know.

KRISTI
Seriously. Nobody to share the view with
- though if you’re doing it in winter,
hello, what view? The experience. Nobody
to share that with. Seems kinda lonely.

ARON
(shrugs)
It’s the way I like it.
 17

Still a little mystified, Kristi gives the camera back to Aron.

Lies back on the slab to take in the sun. Catches Aron checking
his watch.

KRISTI
(wryly)
Behind schedule?
He looks at her. Without turning her closed eyes from the sun,
she smiles.

ARON
Actually, I stopped the clock.

This gets a response. She turns.

KRISTI
You “stopped the clock”?

ARON
I’m timing myself. Seeing if I can beat
the guide book time. When you guys are
gone... click. Clock’s running again.

KRISTI
Huh.

She turns back to the sun.

MEGAN
No girlfriend, then, Aron?

ARON
Nobody special.

KRISTI
There’s always somebody special. There’s
always the “one”.

ARON
Not for me.

KRISTI
They all say that.

MEGAN
Sounds real certain about it.
ARON
Yes, Ma’am.
 18

47 EXT. TRAIL. DAY. 47

The three are walking down the dry water-course, tiny chatting
figures at the bottom of gigantic vertical walls.

ARON
...Blue John was Butch Cassidy’s cook.
Hid out in the canyon when he was on the
run.

MEGAN
Cool.

ARON
Come with me. Might see his ghost.

KRISTI
We gotta get back.
MEGAN
I guess.

ARON
Okay.

They reach a cross-roads.

ARON (CONT’D)
One last photo?

They pose with raven feathers in their hair as Aron turns the
camera round.
VIDEO STILL POV of all three, their heads tight together.

MEGAN
Listen, some friends of ours are having
a party tomorrow night if you want to
swing by.

ARON
Yeah? Where?

But he is already delving in his back-pack, getting out his CD

player and putting on his headphones.

MEGAN
Twenty miles North, on the road to
Green River, behind the old motel.
We’re putting up this massive
inflatable Scooby Doo. Can’t miss it.

ARON
Cool.

Re-shouldering the pack, adjusting the head-phones.

 19

MEGAN
Turn down that track and it’s about two
miles further on. Starts late, goes all
night. We’ll have some beers chilling
for you.
ARON
Sounds great.

He checks his watch. Puts his hand to it. Click.

ARON (CONT’D)
Well, so long!

Turns. A finger hits the button on the CD player.

We see the CD begin to spin. The LED display tells us there’s
38:47 to play before 0:01 appears.
The noise of ten thousand people cheering blasts his- and our-
ears.

CD RECORDING
Good evening, Las Vegas...! Are you
having a good time? Are you ready? Are
you....readdddyyyy?

The music crashes over us. Aron’s running feet negotiate the
rough ground.

Close up of Aron’s face, eyes already focussed on placing his

feet. The measured breathing of an athlete pacing himself. Megan
shouts after him.
MEGAN
Scooby Doo, yeah?

But he is in a different world.

MEGAN (CONT’D)
Do you think he’ll come? You liked him,
right?

She looks at Kristi looking at Aron. Nudges her knowingly.

MEGAN (CONT’D)
Yeah, you liked him.

Kristi continues to stare at his disappearing figure.

KRISTI
Know what? I don’t think we figured in
his day at all.
 20

48 EXT. BLUE JOHN CANYON. ENTRY SLOT. DAY. 48

Aron’s eyes. We see what really figures in his day. His hands
grip small holds. His feet smear on smooth rock. He is moving
down steep rock, hands and feet moving carefully but
confidently. Without warning his feet suddenly slide forward
from under him and he skates/snap-kicks trying to keep his
balance on a floor of scattering pebbles left there by a flood.
There's a flash of the sky and dazzling sunlight.

Only his arms and the proximity now of the walls prevent him
landing hard on his ass.

A small snake slithers away from his giant feet.

49 INT. CANYON. DAY. 49

We are below him, watching from underneath a water-worn, S-
shaped log trapped across a narrow fissure. Aron’s mouth sings
along to the music as he reaches the S-shaped log, crouches
down, gives it two firm hits with his palm. Solid.
ARON
Good enough.

He drops all the weight onto his arms, allows his body to
deadhang from the log for a couple of beats:
ARON (CONT’D)
Three, two, one...go.

And he drops the six feet to the sandy ground below. His feet
neatly hit the sand with a puff of dust. Nothing to it.

50 EXT. S-SHAPED LOG. DAY. 50

He takes a photo of the S-shaped log above him. Right into the
blinding sun.

Title: 2:41 PM. Saturday, April 26th. 2003.

ARON
Won’t be coming back this way.

51 INT. SLOT CANYON. DAY. (FROM HERE ON, CANYON SHOTS INT.) 51
 21

He spins and continues along the narrow alley of the slot

canyon, seeing the first huge chockstones, half-buried in the
sand, big as trucks. He easily scrambles over one and around
another.

Thump, thump. He gives it two firm hits with his palm again, an
automatic instinct that accompanies every new boulder. The
boulder doesn’t move.

It’s a tight fit, but he’s like a contortionist and just

squeezes through.

52 INT. DEEPER INTO THE CANYON. DAY. 52

The slot is now just 4 ft wide and as he stops to look at
massive logs jammed way above his head, silhouetted against the
cloudless blue, he drinks deeply from his water bottle.

53 INT. CANYON RIM. LOOKING DOWN. DAY. 53

On we go and so does the concert in Aron’s head. He pumps the
air to the music. One set of chockstones leads to another. He
rapidly negotiates them like an obstacle race, giving each one
the requisite test with his palm to check for movement. Then, he
is stopped by one the size of a big refrigerator, jammed between
the walls of the canyon, eighteen inches above the floor.
54 INT. CANYON. CHOCKSTONES. DAY. 54
Over or under? He drops to his belly and squeezes underneath,
rucking the sandy floor in front of him. He’s halfway, his chest
rising out the far side when suddenly, he jams. The music locks
up too, looping continuously on two notes like bad techno. He
pushes but nothing.
Utter stillness. Only a flicker of panic in Aron’s blinking eyes
reassures us that the world has not frozen.

We see from his point of view. There’s a hell of a lot of stone

above him.

Then Aron slowly reaches back with his hand. With the careful
precision of a lock-picker, he releases a part of his back-pack
strap that has snagged. The music unjams too. He jumps up,
brushes off the sand.

55 INT. SLOT CANYON. DAY. 55

Tight on Aron’s throat as he swallows water down from his
Camelbak. Big gulps.
 22

We follow his gaze down the slot. It’s steeper, now. We’re
already
60 feet below ground level it’s falling further in front of us.
This is more like caving. He gets the map out.

56 INT/EXT. SILHOUETTE PROFILE. CROSS SECTION OF THE CANYON. DAY.56

We see a section of the canyon and the tiny figure of Aron
moving within it. We track in and elide into a graphic view of
him chimneying his way along the canyon- now only three feet
wide at most. We see his skill, using his legs, back friction to
body-walk along the smooth, sheer walls. He’s going deep.

57 INT. SLOT CANYON. DAY. 57

He moves towards another chockstone below him. You can see his
thinking: this one’s about the size of a bus wheel. He can
crouch on top, dead-hang from it and reduce the drop to the
canyon floor.

58 INT. SLOT CANYON. DAY. 58

He reaches it at the same time we do, jumping down on top of it.
Crouches. Gives it the two thumps with his palm. Solid. Reaches
his hand around the back of the boulder for a hold. Dangles.

C/U tight on Aron.

Just as he dangles, there’s a scraping sound. Small, but close.
The stone judders towards him, pulled by the torque of his hand,
weighting it from the back. It rotates.

ARON
Shit.

Instantly and instinctively, he lets go and drops - as if he’s

trying to detach a mine dragging him to the sea floor.

59 INT. CANYON. ON CHOCKSTONE. DAY. 59

But it’s following him down.
60 INT. CANYON. ARON’S POV. DAY. 60
The backlit chockstone falls towards him. A ton of boulder,
consuming the sky.

61 INT. SLOT CANYON. DAY. 61

He lifts his arms to protect his head, but his eyes remain open.
Through his fingers, we see the next three seconds.
 23

The rock grabs his left hand and flings it against the left
wall. He pulls it away as the rock ricochets against the canyon
wall and careers towards his right arm which he instinctively
raises to protect his head.

The rock smashes his right wrist and hand against the wall and
drags it down, tearing the skin from him like a cheese-grater.
Aron is utterly powerless to stop its force, able only to land
on his feet as the rock crunches to a halt, trapped in the slot.
With his hand. Everything stops.

Title: 127 HOURS.

The word HOURS fades to be replaced by numbers 00.00. The zeros
turn into minutes and hours. 126.59.59. They start counting
down. The clock is running.

62 INT. CANYON FLOOR. DAY. 62

No movement. Aron’s standing behind the rock. As if he’s in a
line for a bus, as if he’s shaking someone’s hand. A handshake
with a canyon.

Silence, except for waves of applause and cheering coming from

the head-phones that have been ripped off Aron’s head. The
cheering and clapping comes to a painfully slow end. Now,
shocked, utter silence.
63 INT. CANYON FLOOR. DAY. 63

Adrenaline, searing roaring pain and panic.

ARON
Get your hand outta there!
Pulls and pulls. Yanks, twists, screws until his shoulder is
almost dislocated. But nothing moves.

Sweat on his face.

ARON (CONT’D)
Shit, shit, shit!

He pushes the boulder with his left hand to reverse the

movement.
Heaves at it with every sinew in his body. Nothing. Heaves
again. And again and again, thrusting with his knees, thighs,
shoulder, everything. Nothing. He rests for a while, taking huge
breaths.

ARON (CONT’D)
This is - this is... insane.
 24

Even gives a brief puff of laughter. Gathers himself. Slams

upwards with his entire body, a man running full pelt into a
door.

ARON (CONT’D)
Unnn...agh!
Air explodes out of his lungs. A howl of phenomenal pain. Not a
millimeter of movement.

ARON (CONT’D)
No, no, no no no no. Fuck!
He goes limp, whimpering in sweat. His knees are bleeding from
smashing them into the rock. He looks at his good fingers, now
lacerated. He would collapse to the floor. But he can’t. He’s
stuck.

He grabs a bit of shirt, wipes the sweat away from his eyes.
Loosens the strap on his back-pack, pulls it over his head and
hula-hoops it around his body until it falls at his feet. With
his free hand, he gets out the water bottle. Drinks deep. One
gulp, two gulps, three - stops, mid fourth and backwashes it
into the bottle.

ARON (CONT’D)
No. No more water.

One-handed, he rescrews the lid with difficulty. Drops it back

in his pack.

ARON (CONT’D)
Stop. Relax. Come on, think.

He breathes and breathes, taking stock for the first time.

64 INT. CANYON FLOOR. DAY. 64

Aron examines the boulder at each point he can reach -
stretching and contorting his body to see in to his crushed
hand, to where his thumb is visible above and his little finger
below. Compares left hand with right. The right wrist is now
squeezed to the size of the width of his little finger. We know
because he can barely get the little finger of his left hand in
the gap. He’s still processing this whole event; how unlikely,
how bizarre.

ARON
Jesus. Jesus. How? How did you do this?
You idiot, you total idiot! It’s
crushed, man. It’s fucking dying.

He reaches up and touches the trail of blood, hair and skin on

the canyon wall. Looks at it on his fingertips. Silence. Except
for the tick, tick, of his watch.
 25

With his teeth, he undoes his watch.

We see the time in big close-up.

C/U. WATCH

3.14. Click. The second hand of the stop-watch comes to a halt.

65 INT. CANYON. DAY. 65

Aron looks up at the slit of sky. Shouts.
ARON
Hello?
Tries again.
ARON (CONT’D)
Kristi! Megan! Anyone there? Hello?
66 INT/EXT. PULL OUT OF THE CANYON. DAY. 66
From the slot canyon, back, back, back, higher and higher until
it nothing more than a hair-line crack in the millions of
filaments that make up this endless desert.

67 INT. CANYON FLOOR. DAY. 67

Aron unpacks everything with great energy. Lays it all out at
his feet. A man taking stock.

BIG C/U: various. Day.

Aron examines each item in turn, looking for its potential.
These are his only companions.

Chocolate bar wrappers, a bakery bag with crumbs of muffin. Two

small bean burritos. A CD player, CDs, LED head-lamp with spare
AA batteries, mini cam-corder, stills camera, bike-lock key,
climbing harness, rehydration pack (he checks for water - empty)
money, credit cards, map, climbing rope in rope bag, a stick,
and a small multi-tool.

He stares at it all, neatly laid out around his feet. It all

stares back.

He picks up the multi-tool. Opens all the blades. Thinks.

C/U: DIGITAL NUMERALS.

3.28 changes to 3.29.

 26

68 INT. CANYON FLOOR. DAY. 68

Inside the tiny gap we see Aron’s head-lamp flick on. We see the
rock, the wall and his hand, trapped between the two. He picks a
point and begins to chip away with the multi-tool. He’s back.
Energy, purpose, action.

He stops to assess his hand. Flexes it. It’s swollen and puffy.
He doesn’t dwell on it. Gets back to chipping.

A rhythm develops. Chip, chip, chip. Flex, flex, flex of the

hand. And back to the chipping.

C/U: DIGITAL NUMERALS.

4.19 changes to 4.20.

69 INT. CANYON FLOOR. DAY. 69

Huge close up of Aron’s eye. In the foreground there is a pile
of steel filings mixed with the small pile of sand-dust.

ARON
That’s not rock. It’s metal. Wearing
down the knife.

He blows the whole pile of steel filings into our face.

70 INT. CANYON FLOOR. DAY. 70

The dust clears from our eyes. Aron chips away at the boulder
again. Stops. Changes tack and starts chipping away at the wall.
Stops. Considers.

71 INT. CANYON FLOOR. DAY. 71

ARON
And....
Aron is bent forward, his face almost on his trapped arm. In his
teeth is the knife, balanced upright with his lips, the tip of
the blade on the rock. His good hand brings a flat rock smashing
down on the top of the knife.

Instead of making any inroads into chipping the boulder, the

rock explodes in his hand, showering Aron - and us - with
fragments.
 27

The knife bounces off the rock, hits his shorts. As he moves to
grab it, he misses it and knocks it further round the back of
his leg.

He pivots to try to catch it again, but gravity is quicker and

the tool falls into a hole between the rounded rocks near his
left foot.
ARON (CONT’D)
No, no, no......!

72 INT. CANYON FLOOR. DAY. 72

The knife is visible in the crack below and behind his right
leg. Because he can’t twist, he can’t get anywhere near it.
Heaves against the canyon wall to get there. Pointless. Aron is
furious with himself.

ARON
Shit!

He pulls off his right shoe and tries to squeeze his foot into
the hole. Too big. He looks upward. Can’t believe it.

ARON (CONT’D)
Shit, shit, shit!

73 INT. BENEATH CANYON FLOOR. DAY. 73

We’re on a level with the knife in the hole beneath Aron’s feet.
An enormous light blasts on overhead. Aron’s head-lamp. The
stick enters from top of screen and nudges the knife in a semi-
circle. It’s all a bit arcade game if it wasn’t so fucking
serious. No success. The stick is withdrawn. The knife remains.

Pause. An ant runs over the knife.

The stick returns. This time, its top is almost broken off to
form a natural hook. We push in on the knife as the stick hooks
through the little ring on the end of the knife. Slowly, slowly,
it lifts.

74 INT. ARON IN CANYON. DAY. 74

Looking down onto the ground, around his leg, his toes holding
the stick like a chopstick. Tremulously, his leg lifts the knife
out and up towards his good arm. Slowly, breathlessly, he picks
it off the end of the stick. For the first time in a long time,
a smile.

ARON
Sweet.
 28

75 INT. WIDE INT. CANYON. NIGHT. 75

We’re with the wind blowing dust through the canyon slot. As we
weave through the narrow canyon, we come across a miner in the
distance, digging at the rock.

76 INT. CANYON. NIGHT. 76

Aron is using the shorter file from the multi-tool now and has
tied a shoe-lace to his wrist through the ring of the tool.
He pulls his cap down to keep most of the dust from blowing
in his eyes. His lips are caked in sand, but he keeps
blowing on his arm to keep it clear.

C/U: DIGITAL NUMERALS.

The luminous watch changes to 00.00.

Title: Sunday.

77 INT. ARON IN THE CANYON. NIGHT. 77

Aron celebrates midnight with a tiny, careful sip of water. He
holds it in his mouth, puffing his cheeks, circulating the
precious fluid.

He leans his head against the canyon wall. Closes his eyes.

78 EXT. EXTRAORDINARY LANDSCAPE. DAZZLING DAYLIGHT. DAY. 78

Daylight, a lunar landscape almost, though with patches of
green and giant boulders, Aron whom we sense only by being
around his shoulder is out walking with his friend. They
wander through this field of boulders. It's as if we're on
the moon looking over Buzz Aldrin's shoulder at Neil
Armstrong; it certainly sounds like that...
They come upon one the size of a house buried nose deep in the
field.

ARON’S FRIEND
Wow, look at the size of this one.

There's no cliffs or mountains anywhere near.

ARON’S FRIEND (CONT’D)
How the fuck did this get here?
 29

Aron’s friend looks around, then right up at the sky, then at

him. Shrugs. Laughs.

79 INT. CANYON. NIGHT. 79

Chip, chip, chip. He stretches his left arm, flexes his legs.
Changes blade. Prises at a section of rock with the file.
Without warning a dime-sized shred of boulder arcs through the
night. He catches it perfectly on his right elbow.

ARON
Cool.

Picks it off his arm and places it on top of the rock. A grain
of sand on a sea-shore. But something. He stands up from his
crouch. Flexes. Man, his legs are aching.

80 INT. ABOVE ARON, LOOKING INTO CANYON. NIGHT. 80

Aron is in his harness. He is throwing 30 feet of rope up
towards us. A tangle of knots and carabiners at the end of it
looking for purchase close to camera. Each time, it falls back.
He persists. Dozens of jump cuts, dozens of attempts.

Finally it catches.
He pulls on the rope, gently at first, then fiercely. It’s
caught. He clips the rope into his harness and sinks gently
down, allowing the weight off his feet.

ARON
Ahhhhhhh.

He dangles, luxuriating in the sudden weightlessness. Examines

the knuckles of his left hand, skinned by the digging.

He switches off his head-lamp. Eyes close. Black....

81 INT/EXT. VARIOUS. DAY. 81

A re-run of the accident. He can now witness it in detail, from
all angles - almost as if his role is to point out the salient
details of the accident. 3 seconds becomes 30.... We fall with
his face in high-definition slow motion, watching his future.

We fall with the rock chasing him pitilessly to the bottom of

the canyon.

82 INT. CANYON. PRE-DAWN. 82

 30

Aron’s eyes snap open and he stands unsteadily. Rubs at his legs
and arms. Starts chipping at the boulder again.

83 INT. CANYON. TIME-LAPSE. PRE-DAWN. 83

Lit only by the head-lamp, the black shifts to grey and then
finally, light. He watches it arrive. A rush of wind. A noise.

He whips his head to look up. A raven flaps overhead.

RAVEN Caw-
caw.

84 EXT. SKY. DAWN. 84

The raven flies the length of the canyon slit above him. Blue,
blue sky.

85 INT. CANYON. DAWN. 85

He stretches his neck, desperate to follow the only other living
thing in this universe. But it’s gone. He stares at its absence
for a long time.
ARON Caw-
caw.

86 INT. CANYON. DAWN. 86

Aron is very still, staring at the rock and the open blade lying
on top of it. Steeling himself to start work.
Suddenly, he looks over his shoulder and sees a dagger of
sunlight cutting across the top of the slot. Sunrise.

87 EXT. ARON’S TRUCK. PRE-DAWN 87

We are behind Aron as he hurtles up Aspen Main Street and
screeches to a halt outside a house. Still behind Aron we leave
the truck. The silhouettes of people on one rooftop.

Fairy lights. An all-night party. As we look up from behind him

a girl, mid-20s, red hair, beautiful, turns and leans over
towards him, calling down. She speaks with a slight French
accent.
 31

RANA
Ralston - there you are! Get up here!

88 EXT. FIRE-ESCAPE. PRE-DAWN. 88

We’re rushing up the steps, two, maybe three at a time, behind
Aron. He bursts onto the roof and into the party. Much jeering
and cheering but just in time to see the sunrise blaze over the
far snow-capped mountains and flood over the rooftop. Amongst
the party carnage his friends are sitting on sofas and deck-
chairs. Rana, lit by God, brings him a Margarita and a dazzling
smile.

RANA
Glad you made it Aron.

The sun ascends and the party, drunk as skunks, greet the day.

C.U: DIGITAL NUMERALS.

9.30 AM

89 INT. CANYON. DAWN. 89

He watches the sunbeam as if it’s a living thing. It moves
towards him. He stretches his hand towards it. Can’t get to it.
It’s going to miss him. He whips off his left shoe and sock and
pushes his leg towards the beam of light. Slowly, it climbs,
caressing his ankle and calf. He pulls the other sock off and
bathes this one now.
The sunlight hits the canyon beyond the boulder. Suddenly, the
entire slot bursts with pink and gold light. Aron stares.

90 INT. CANYON. DAY. VIDEO MESSAGE ONE. 90

Electronic static and then Aron’s image.
ARON
It’s three oh five on Sunday, April
27th, two thousand and three. This
marks twenty-four hours of being stuck
in Blue John Canyon just where it slots
up above the Big Drop. My name is Aron
 32

Ralston. My parents are Donna and Larry

Ralston of Englewood, Colorado.
A long pause.

ARON (CONT’D)
Whoever finds this, you can keep the
camcorder. But please make an attempt
to find my parents. Give them the tape.
Be sure of it. I would appreciate it.
He takes long blinks, seems to avoid looking at himself though
the screen is facing him. He looks alarmed and wide-eyed, though
his speech is oddly slow and slurry.

ARON (CONT’D)
So.... I was descending Blue John
yesterday, when this happened.
The camera swings rounds to show where his forearm and wrist
disappear into the horrifyingly skinny gap between the
chockstone and the wall.

91 INT/EXT. VARIOUS. CANYON. DAY. 91

Flashes of the accident, almost in silhouette, as if an
animation side-view. It freezes just before the moment of
entombment.

92 INT. CANYON. DAY. VIDEO MESSAGE ONE. 92

ARON
What you’re looking at there is my arm
going into the rock... this chockstone
was loose. Rolled onto my arm and it’s
- stuck. It’s been without circulation
for twenty-four hours now. It’s a kind
of grey, blue color. No circulation.
He pulls the camera back round to his face.

ARON (CONT’D)
It’s pretty well gone. I’m low on food
and -
He leans, picks up the water bottle and shakes it for the
benefit of whoever might ever watch this.

ARON (CONT’D)
Yeah. That’s about three hundred, four
hundred mill in there. That’s it for
water.
 33

Another long pause. Forced smile.

ARON (CONT’D)
I’m in pretty deep doo-doo here.
The smile is replaced by something nearer sudden terror.
Suddenly the screen turns to static.

93 INT. CANYON. DAY. 93

Aron gathers himself. Clears his throat. Switches back on.

VIDEO MESSAGE ONE.

ARON
I’ve had a lot of time to think about
this... and the way I see it is there
are four options. One: try to move the
boulder. I managed to get a rope around
that other chockstone up there -

The camera swings up to the sky, focusses on another boulder.

ARON (CONT’D)
- but I’ve only got the gear to rig a
three, four-to-one ratio. And this
boulder must be a ton. Do the Math.
Option two, chip away at the rock. Been
doing that. A lot. But I’m beginning to
think that my hand is actually
supporting it. So every time I chip it
a bit, the rock just settles further.

94 INT. WIDE. MOVING THROUGH THE CANYON. REAL TIME. 94

A breeze slides through the canyon. Five seconds of involuntary

shuddering from Aron that shakes his whole body.

95 INT. CANYON. DAY. VIDEO MESSAGE ONE. 95

ARON
Christ.
He pulls himself together.

ARON (CONT’D)
So option three: cut my arm off.
 34

He shrugs. As best he can in the circumstances.

ARON (CONT’D)
Which is pretty much suicide. It’s 4
hours to my vehicle down canyon and 4
hours back to my bike but the
climbing... I think it will be
impossible with one hand. Between the
blood loss and the dehydration I think
I would die if I cut my arm.
Pause.

ARON (CONT’D)
Animals do it. In a trap. Bite off their
own leg.
Another long pause.

ARON (CONT’D)
They die anyway. Option four is to
survive. Hunker down. Wait for rescue.
He turns away from camera. Suddenly a guilty man. Looks back.
How to say this?
ARON (CONT’D)
Didn’t tell anyone where I was I was
going, did I? No note on the truck.
Another strange smile.
ARON (CONT’D)
Rule number one, First Grade, just
before ‘don’t talk to strangers’. Dumb.
Dumb. Dumb.
Nothing left to say. The video whirrs on until his eyes snap
into focus.

96 INT. CANYON. DAY. REAL TIME. 96

Aron suddenly alert. Footsteps. Something. He can hear

something.
Electrified, his head snaps around trying to locate the
direction.

97 INT. CANYON. DAY. VIDEO MESSAGE ONE/ CANYON REAL TIME. 97

We see variously on tape and in real time reacting. He’s
forgotten the camera in his hand- the angles are crazy and
oblique, but shocking nonetheless. He is screaming, screaming.
We can see the unleashed panic, the fear, the desperation.
 35

ARON
Help! Help! Hello? Please!

Stops, wide-eyed to listen. Definitely noise.

ARON (CONT’D)
Help me! Help me! Hellllp!

98 INT. CANYON. DAY. 98

He stops, heart racing, breathing hard. Still, the noise. Looks
above and behind him. A kangaroo rat scuffling behind another
chock-stone. The rat scuttles off.

ARON You
little.... fucker.

Aron’s entire frozen body goes limp.

99 INT. CANYON. DAY. 99

He stares at the camera in his hand. Sees it is still recording.
Stops it. Rewinds. Re-runs the footage of the tinny screams for
help coming from the speaker.

ARON V/O
Help! Help! Hello? Please! Help me! Help
me...!

Aron stops the tape and rewinds.

ARON
No. You. Do.
Not.

Takes a deep breath.

ARON (CONT’D)
(almost to himself)
Hold it together.
100 EXT. GOOGLE-EARTH SATELLITE SHOT OF WILDERNESS. DUSK. 100
We’re high above the desert. In time-lapse, we see nightfall: a
soft, grey, endless line of darkness cross the earth.

101 C/U: DIGITAL THERMOMETER. 101

The temperature gauge on his watch falls ridiculously fast from
70 degrees down to 48.
 36

102 INT. CANYON. NIGHT. 102

Jump-cut, strobe-lit as if stop-frame animation: Aron madly gets
dressed for the night.

He cannibalizes everything he can get his hands on, using his

knife, his teeth, his free hand.

He tears holes in a cloth camera bag. Thrusts his good arm into
the newly fashioned sleeve. Pulls it around him with his teeth.

Wraps purple webbing around his right arm.

Shoves the empty Camelbak water bladder between the wall and his
right arm to insulate it.

Wraps a grocery bag around his upper right bicep.

Curls the dirty green-and-yellow ropes around his legs. Like
he’s being squeezed by a python.
All done at massive speed. To generate warmth, stop him from
thinking.

Finally, he sticks his head inside the rope bag.

103 INT. ROPE BAG. NIGHT. 103

It’s lined with plastic. Shiny. By the light of the head-lamp,
he’s suddenly alarmingly illuminated.

104 EXT. ROPE BAG. NIGHT. 104

From the outside, he looks a cross between an alien and a tramp.

105 INT. ROPE BAG. NIGHT. 105

Bizarrely, Aron laughs, aware of how ridiculous he looks.

ARON
The Michelin Man! Bit thinner. Lot
thinner.

Stops laughing. He roots in his pocket, pulls out the remains of

a bean burrito. Takes a bite. Chews slow, heavy, masticating on
a dry mouth.

106 INT. ARON’S TRUCK. DUSK. 106

 37

We're in his truck again but this time over his shoulder and we
can see the Scooby Doo Figure dancing in the distance. It's now
lit up too, as night is falling, and we're coming at it from the
other direction. As he gets to it he swerves and follows its
guide to the party.

107 EXT. DRIVEWAY. NIGHT 107

Pulling up at the party.

108 INT. PARTY. NIGHT. 108

Inside it's nice, full of ordinary decent people, though no one
acknowledges Aron as we stay attached to his shoulder.
There's a mini-Scooby Doo dancing in the main room and there's a
light, early party atmosphere. Aron searches for the girls,
approaching any cluster to see which girls they contain. The
clusters part slightly as he approaches, give the camera polite
smiles and then ignore us. The camera moves onto the next group,
searching.

109 INT. ROPE BAG. NIGHT. 109

Black. We can hear breathing in an enclosed space.

ARON
I’ve not paid a lot of attention over
the years. Said a few bad things about
you, admit it. But I guess you know
that. God.
A long silence. Then a rustle and a sudden blast of light
illuminates Aron. Ghostly green. The head-lamp bouncing off the
shiny interior of the rope bag.
ARON (CONT’D)
Look, God, I don’t know what to do. I
don’t know what to do. I’ve tried
everything I can think of. I. Don’t.
Know. What. To do. You want me to go to
church every Sunday, never climb again,
never curse, whatever. It’s done. I’ll
sign right on the line. Though I might
have to write left-handed because- well,
 38
because, y’know, under the circumstances
-

A burst of hysterical laughter which frightens him. He wrestles

himself back into control.

ARON (CONT’D)
Seriously. I will. Just get me out of
here. Please. Out of here.

Pause. And then his entire body spasms with cold.

ARON (CONT’D) Ungg-ggg-
ggg....!

Five seconds of demonic shaking from the multi-coloured headless

man. This too is scary for Aron.

ARON (CONT’D)
Yeah. Funny.

He lays his hooded face against the rock. Shuts his eyes.

Black.
ARON (CONT’D)
Oh, Jesus.

110 INT. ASPEN STORE. DAY. 110

Aron is standing at one end of the store counter: at no point do
we see Aron but we sense him in reflective surfaces, his arms,
particularly his right one and his feet occasionally come into
shot. As does a guide-book that Aron is flicking through. Brion
glances up.

BRION
Where you goin’?
ARON
Dunno yet.

He shuts the book, turns to go.

ARON (CONT’D)
See you Tuesday.
BRION
Have a good one.

ARON
Always do.
 39
111 C/U: DIGITAL NUMERALS. 111
11.59 Changes to 00.00.

112 INT. CANYON. NIGHT. 112

He pulls his bag off and pulls his water bottle out of the
ground where he has half-buried it. It won't open. He can't
unscrew it. He mutters, cursing himself for tightening the lid
too much. He puts it between his teeth and levers with his
head, but nothing. Is his strength vanishing so quickly?

He looks at his puffy left hand, there's a tremble in it. He

shakes it to get rid of the tremble and jams the bottle between
his legs. He uses a bit of cloth to give his hand better
purchase on the top. We're tight on the neck of the bottle as
it releases, finally and he lifts it, slowly, almost
ceremonially. Controlling the tilt, a half-mouthful of water
slides onto his tongue. He tilts the bottle back towards
upright but not the whole way. He waits. Circulating the splash
of water around his mouth.

113 INT. CANYON. C/U: BOTTLE NECK 113

The bottle neck stares at Aron.

114
114 INT. CANYON. C/U: ARON

... his eyes staring at the bottle neck.

115 INT. CANYON. NIGHT. 115

He still holds the water in his mouth as he rewinds the top onto
the bottle and reburies it in the sand to stop any evaporation.
He moves to pop his contact lenses into his mouth and wash them
in the moisture. First one then the other as we...
116 INT. ARON’S APARTMENT. DAY. 116
The images shift with the lens change back to his apartment,
daylight. The the phone rings once, twice... 3, 4, 5 times. The
answer-phone clicks on.

Aron’s cheery voice from another life.

ARON (ANSWER-PHONE)
Hi Aron here! Leave a message.
 40
117 INT. ARON’S APARTMENT. DAY. 117
In front of his bathroom mirror he's slipping his lenses in for
the day. It looks like The Man Who Fell To Earth.

ANSWER-PHONE (MOM)
Aron, it's Mom. Hoping to catch you.
Nothing urgent. Dad's in New York so
it'll be a quiet weekend.

Aron is clearly there but can’t answer.

118 INT. C/U: VARIOUS. ARON & MIRROR. DAY. 118

Huge close-ups that freak people out who've never worn lenses.
Mirror shots and lots of short soft focus.

ANSWER-PHONE (MOM)
Call me. Lots of love.

The long tone of the disconnected line.

119 INT. CANYON FLOOR. PRE DAWN. 119

He is absolutely still. Almost absent. Flies buzz around him.
Indeterminate time passes.

120 INT. DESERT. PRE-DAWN. MASSIVE CLOSE UP. 120

Big as a JCB, an ant crawls across Aron’s face. His muscles
twitch in response.
121 INT. ROPE BAG. PRE-DAWN. 121
Aron’s eyes, open a slit. That’s as much rest as he gets.
Targets some puffs of breath at the ant. Doesn’t work. Flicks
the ant away with a finger. A couple of mosquitoes have
appeared, hovering around.

Caption: Monday

122 INT. CANYON. PRE-DAWN. 122

Aron’s busy. He is threading the end of rope under and around
the boulder. Ties it into a circle of rope with one hand.

Next, he reaches as far up as he can- given the restrictions of

his trapped arm- and ties overhand knots in the circle of rope
 41
already tied to the higher boulder. Each time, he falls back,
breathing heavily before going up again. He is tireless.

Now, he reaches up and clips a carabiner to the circle. Then

back up to clip his rope through it. Clips the rope through
another carabiner clipped to the rope around the lower boulder.
Goes up again to clip another carabiner and another rope. Now it
is clear he is making a pulley.

Next, he takes a bight of rope and makes a hand loop.

With a huge tug, he pulls down on the hand loop. The ropes of
the pulley tighten. Pulls with all his might. Nothing.
Undeterred, he ties a leg loop too. Puts one foot in and treads
down hard as he is pulling. Nothing.

This time, both his feet are in leg loops. He is pushing down as
hard as he can, almost a temper tantrum of heaving, tugging and
stamping. Nothing.

He goes limp on the rope, open-mouthed with exhaustion and

despair. Shuts his eyes. Tries to lick his parched lips.

123 INT/EXT. CANYON. VARIOUS. DAY. 123

Suddenly, we are crashing through the canyon, weaving this way
and that, rollercoastering up and out onto flat desert. Past the
chained-up bicycle and along the slick rock humps.

124 INT. ARON’S TRUCK. DAY. 124

We crash into the back of the truck and there, lying on its side
is an almost-full bottle of Gatorade. And a grapefruit! They’ve
got sparkly condensation on them- like advertising spritzer mist
- all over them. And then there’s another water bottle and an
orange...
The Gatorade lies on its side and the liquid seems to be
slapping slowly, backward and forward like a Lava lamp, bulging
with wetness and moisture.

125 INT. CANYON. DAY. 125

Snap back to Aron’s face. Aron tries to lick his lips. But it’s
a parody of lip licking. No saliva.

He reaches down to the water bottle. Wets his lips with the
tiniest drop. A frown crosses his face.
 42
126 INT. CANYON. DAY. 126
Aron is wrestling to unscrew the top of the Camelbak with his
teeth. There’s panic here. Puts the cap on the top of the rock-
nearly drops it in his haste. What’s the hurry. Unzips his flies
in desperation, urinates into the Camelbak. Relief washes over
his face.

When he’s finished, he shakes the Camelbak, takes a tentative

sniff which sends his head rearing back in disgust.

127 INT. CANYON. DAY. VIDEO MESSAGE TWO. 127

Aron speaking to the video. He is beginning to fray at the edges
a bit. Thinner, hollow-eyed. Still holding it together, but
there are hints of darkness in his occasionally wayward
delivery. Aron is trying not to look at himself.
ARON
It’s freaking me out looking at myself
so I hope you guys are OK with this.
Pause.

128 INT. CANYON. DAY. REAL TIME 128

We can see two images of him when we go behind the camera
balanced on the rock as he has deliberately turned the screen
away from himself.
129 INT. CANYON. DAY. VIDEO MESSAGE TWO. 129

ARON
It’s Monday. All day. Bummer. I spent
the morning trying to rig a pulley.
Worth a try. But there’s so much
friction and it’s climbing rope. Too
much stretch. What I need is twenty
metres of static rap rope.

130 INT. ASPEN STORE. NIGHT. 130

Aron is there like a night-burglar with his headlamp. The camera
is looking at neat coils of rope, hanging from hooks on the wall
of the store. As Aron recites his shopping list, the camera
moves along the wall, recording the items, fetishising the
smooth metal and bright colours of climbing gear. Occasionally,
a hand appears, slipping off the rack the things he needs for
escape. Carabiners, the multi-coloured slings, the ascenders,
the bolts....

ARON V/O
 43
Nine point eight mill. Three or four
pulleys, a rack of carabiners, slings,
a power drill and a bolt kit. Oh, and
eight guys to haul.

And yes, there are eight burly men standing in the

doorway.

131 INT. CANYON. DAY. VIDEO MESSAGE TWO. 131

A wry smile.

ARON
That would do it.

132 INT. CANYON. DAY. REAL TIME. 132

We see him below us as the raven flies overhead. He flicks his
head round to follow it as it goes.

133 INT. CANYON. DAY. VIDEO MESSAGE TWO. 133

ARON
There’s this raven. Flies overhead
every morning. I clocked it at eight
fifteen yesterday.
Looks at his watch.

ARON (CONT’D)
Right on time. I’ll film it for you
tomorrow. I have about one hundred and
fifty millilitres of water left, which
will keep me alive until tomorrow
night. If I’m lucky. And I peed twice
already.
It’s two days since I went last and
then I nearly go wet myself. Bodily
functions going weird on me. I saved
the second lot in the Camelbak. Smells
pretty rank, but it’ll settle, I guess.
Let it chill...Like Sauvignon Blanc...
No number twos. Which will disappoint
my insect friends. They're gonna have
to wait. What else? I get fifteen
minutes of sun at nine thirty.

134 INT. CANYON. DAY. REAL TIME. 134

 44
Aron is deathly still as we travel towards him with a dagger of
light. His leg is stretched out and the only movement is the
change of leg halfway through. He stays in shot throughout
getting bigger and then smaller as the light approaches and
recedes.

135 INT. BACK OF CAR. DAY. 135

Black. A car engine dies. A car door slams. Blurred vision.
Aron’s Dad leans in.

ARON’S DAD
We’re here, kiddo.

We get out of the car, the camera our POV. Moves past the car.
Stops to allow us to take in what we are seeing. We are standing
on the lip of the Grand Canyon as the sun is coming up. Hundreds
of miles of red desert stretch out in front of him.

YOUNG ARON V/O

Man....!
We burst up and away, getting the briefest view of Young Aron
and his Dad before they are dots in the maze of canyons.
136 INT. CANYON. DAY. VIDEO MESSAGE TWO. 136
ARON
I keep chipping at the rock, but more
to keep warm than anything else. I’m
pretty sure it’s actually making it
worse. If that’s possible.
Big pause.
ARON (CONT’D)
So.
Smiles in a slightly embarrassed way.

ARON (CONT’D)
I found this great tourniquet....

137 INT. CANYON. DAY. 137

There is excitement on Aron’s face. We see him pull the elastic
neoprene tubing insulation from the Camelbak. Stretchy and
strong, it emerges like a long snake. Perfect. He wraps the
neoprene strip around his right forearm, below the elbow.
Tightens it with his teeth. Knots it again. And again. Clips a
carabiner into the end and twists and twists it tight.
Bizarrely, this is great.

ARON
Owww. Oh, yeah. That hurts. That hurts.
 45
Takes out the multi-tool and switches to the long blade. Then he
presses the blade and draws it quickly across his forearm.
Nothing. Repeats it harder. Then slashes hard, sawing viciously
at the same point.

ARON (CONT’D)
Shit. Shit, shit.
Releases the tourniquet, allowing blood flow to return to his
arm and a series of angry red slash marks to reveal themselves.

ARON (CONT’D)
That it?

He looks at the blade. Blows out a long, disgusted jet of air.

ARON (CONT’D)
Useless.
138 INT. CANYON. DAY. VIDEO MESSAGE TWO. 138
Smiley again, in a slightly worrying way. The camera skims over
the slash marks. Back onto Aron’s face.
ARON
Lesson: don’t buy the cheap, made-in-
China multi-tool. Couldn’t find my
Swiss Army Knife. This one came free
with a flashlight. And the flashlight
was shit too....Kept it in the truck
for- emergencies...

Another wry smile.

ARON (CONT’D)
Not blaming you, Mom. Really. As
stocking-stuffers go, more than okay.
How were you to know I’d get into this
much trouble?
He looks directly into the lens for the first
time.

ARON (CONT’D)
Hey, Sonja. I can hear you saying it.

ARON (IN VISION) (CONT’D) SONJA (OOV)

Aron’s really gone and done Aron’s really gone and done
it this time. it this time.

139 INT. ARON’S FAMILY HOME DAY. REAL TIME. 139

We are looking through the window. There are his Mom and Dad,
sitting on the sofa at home, his Dad with a glass of soda half-
way to his lips. They are listening to his sister Sonja, aged 10
 46
in this scene, who is sitting at the piano, playing Chopin’s
Nocturne number 2 in E Flat. Quiet and haunting. Across the
room, Young Aron, aged 15, is filming the scene with a video
camera.

We see the scene from the Young Aron’s point of view- a stripy
harsh-coloured video, moving in on Young Sonja until she turns
and mouths silently- and very politely- the words “go away” to
the camera before turning her attention back to the music.

We catch the Older Aron’s ghostly reflection looking through the

window, his hand touching the window pane.

140 INT. CANYON. DAY. 140

Aron smiles.
ARON
Way to go Sis.

141 INT. CANYON. DAY. 141

Aron shakes his water bottle to check the contents. He opens the
top, tilts and then holds the water in his mouth as he
ritualistically removes his contact lenses and washes them in
his mouth.
Suddenly a shiver tears across him like an attack dog. He coughs
a lens out. As he tries to catch it before it disappears in the
sand, he tips the bottle in his lap.

The bottle falls horizontally on his shorts and a leak of sacred

fluid darkens his tan shorts. He whips it upright.

ARON
No....! Useless fucking idiot! Jesus,
pay attention.

He screws the lid carefully on. Shakes the bottle. Scarcely

anything in there now. Can barely be bothered to lift the
contact lens to his eye. But he does.

BIG C/U: EYE.

The contact lens slips onto Aron’s open eye. He blinks and a
shutter comes briefly down on the screen, raising again to
reveal we are now in...

142 INT. UNKNOWN. NIGHT. 142

 47
... the back of a vehicle crowded with people. Subjective camera
means that we are Aron’s POV. In front of him, at least half a
dozen of his friends and Rana are excitedly chattering - though
we can hear nothing.

Gradually, it becomes clear that it’s night outside. They are

undressing in their seats - not an easy thing to do - eliciting
lots of laughter, more infantile than sexual.

There’s a ferocious blizzard outside the vehicle. We’re up a

mountain, being buffeted by massive gusts of wind, hail and
snow.

They prepare themselves for a mutual signal.

RANA
Go!

And all the windows come down. The blizzard explodes inside the
vehicle.
143 EXT. MOUNTAIN. NIGHT. 143
One shot outside. POVs of naked arms out the windows, shaking
and saluting the storm. Their crazy, happy faces can be seen
laughing through the windscreen as the snow invades the inside
of the vehicle.

144 INT. VEHICLE. NIGHT. 144

Through the blizzard of snow inside the vehicle, the waving
arms, the chaos, Rana’s face turns from the front seat to face
the camera.

RANA
(her hand placed on her heart)
I love you.

145 INT. CANYON. SUNSET. 145

Eyes, shut, Aron is dangling in his harness. He is so still, he
might be dead.

An ant wanders across his free arm. The arm twitches. Twitches
again, then shakes the ant off it. No more movement.

146 INT. BACK OF TRUCK. DAY. 146

 48
The back of the truck is decked out with a mattress and sleeping
bag. This is camping, Colorado style. Outside, lie trees and a
lake.

We are looking down at Rana on Aron’s chest. As ever with Aron’s

memories, the camera is our POV, Aron’s eyes. We never see him,
only her. There’s clearly been sex and there’s clearly going to
be sex. The pheromones are coming off the screen. She puts a
finger on his heart. Puts her head to it, listening.

RANA
So how do I get in, huh? What is the-
Her English deserts her momentarily. She mimes turning a safe’s
combination lock on his chest.

ARON V/O
Combination.
RANA
Combination.

147 INT. CANYON. SUNSET. 147

The faintest of smiles from Aron. He mumbles the words.

ARON
If I told you I’d have to kill you.

148 INT. BACK OF TRUCK. DAY. 148

RANA
Already you kill me.

Her hand reaches down out of sight of the camera.

RANA (CONT’D) Ah.
The combination. I have it.

She slides slowly down his chest.

149 INT. CANYON. SUNSET. 149

Suddenly, CRACK! A sound that makes Aron - and us - startle out
of our seats.
 49
He looks around, wide-eyed with fear.

Another crack. He looks down. Dark spots on his shorts.

150 EXT. SLOT CANYON. DAY. ARON’S POV. SUNSET 150

Looks up. There’s an angry-looking, black motherfucker of a
cloud above him.

151 INT. CANYON. SUNSET. 151

C./U on Aron’s eyes. We look up at the sky. A blob of rain
spatters the lens. And then another.
152 EXT. CANYON. SUNSET. 152

Suddenly, a crack of thunder like the earth has just split.

A flash of Aron driving past the roadside sign that reads
“DANGER FLASH FLOODS”.

Aron reacts as if it’s come to get him. Panic.

ARON
No. No...

He wrenches at the boulder, pulls, pushes. Moans, heaves.

Nothing, of course.

153 EXT. DESERT. SUNSET. 153

Massive, thunderhead clouds rolling in, impossibly fast. The
desert dust is hit by silent bullets. Raindrops gathering and
multiplying, soaking the sand dark, and then flowing into a
groove and slit, being joined by other rivulets until water is
running, finding its way along the jagged cracks in the ground.

Above us, the sky is furious black. Lightning arcs across the
sky.

154 INT. CANYON. SUNSET. 154

Aron’s sky darkens above him. He looks truly scared, has somehow
found some energy. Gathers his possessions together. Sticks out
his tongue to catch the drops.

ARON
Please God, not this. Not this.
 50
155 EXT. DESERT. SUNSET. 155
Water is pouring into a bigger channel. We are with the water,
being joined by other rivulets until in turn, we join a bigger
water-course.

156 EXT. DESERT. SUNSET. 156

Another channel explodes as a volume of water engulfs it. The
camera literally slips and slides as the water picks up speed,
looking for release, for a gulley, for a - canyon.
157 INT. CANYON. SUNSET. 157
The bottom of the canyon has become a river. It is surging down
the natural pipe-work of the desert.

158 EXT. BLUE JOHN CANYON. S-SHAPED LOG. SUNSET. 158

From below, we are looking at the S-shaped log as unimaginable
tons of water come pouring suddenly over the lip of the canyon.
The canyon becomes a six foot wall of churning mud and debris,
hurtling downwards.

159 INT. CANYON. SUNSET. 159

We see Aron in the distance, tugging at his arm. Water is
bubbling up from the ground, forcing itself up through the sand
between his feet. Without time to register, the wall of water
hits him.

160 INT. CANYON. SUNSET. 160

In an instant, he is engulfed with freezing water. Gasping at
the cold, wrenching his head to one side to get out of the main
force of the blast. He tries to gain height, but the water is
filling the canyon by the second.

ARON
No, no, no, no.....
His head is only just above the water level. He is going under.
Takes a last few desperate breaths before the water closes over
him.

161 INT. CANYON. UNDERWATER. SUNSET. 161

We’re with Aron underwater, in the churning, dark waters. Only
Aron’s head-lamp flashing around desperately.

Then in the maelstrom of mud, we see the boulder shift. A

thrashing of body. The arm pulls, tugs. And then, he is free.

He steps on the boulder and powers upwards.

 51
Aron’s face coming up, roaring for breath. Gasping, choking.
Alive.

162 INT. CANYON. SUNSET. 162

A hand appears from the slot, clutches at the canyon lip. Finds
a hold. Pulls. Aron’s exhausted body heaves itself half onto the
plateau, rests on his stomach, heaving. Takes his damaged arm
with his good arm and hauls it- like a dead thing- and slaps it
over the lip.
163 EXT. WIDE CANYON. SUNSET. 163
Painfully, slowly, Aron rolls onto his back. Stares at the pink,
orange, deep blue streaks in the sky. Heaves himself upright.
Looks down at his hand.

Mottled white and grey, a dead surgical glove at the end of his
arm.

Aron gets to his knees. His feet. Steadies himself for a long
moment. And then starts to stagger forwards, a man learning to
walk again. Grunting with pain and exhaustion.

164 EXT. STEEP SLOPE. NIGHT. 164

One-armed, Aron drags himself, painful inch by inch, from one
step to another. He slumps upright, his head actually resting on
the rock, eyes almost closed. On some auto-pilot.

He almost falls over the last holds. Lies on the ground, staring
up at the stars in the sky.

A shooting star sparkles across the sky.

C/U: shooting star.

A blaze of burning rocks, white hot, tumbling impossibly through
space.

C/U: ARON’S FACE.

A reflection of the star’s trail in Aron’s eye.

165 EXT. CAR PARK. NIGHT. 165

Aron is kneeling by the back door of his truck. His face is
flush with the smooth metal, actually against it. A smile of
love. He could be kissing it. But he’s actually trying to unlock
it, his face inches from the lock, his trembling hand wrestling
with the keys. Eventually, he gets the key in. Turns it. Bliss.
 52
166 EXT. CAR PARK. NIGHT. 166
Aron is sitting, slumped against his truck, drinking the bottle
of Gatorade.

C.U of his throat as it gulps and gulps. Gatorade is running all

over his face. He can’t get it down fast enough. It is liquid
pornography.
Aron pauses to groan with sheer delight. Looks down at his
useless hand. Starts laughing and laughing. With relief, with
delight.

167 INT. ARON’S TRUCK. NIGHT. 167

Aron driving. One-handed. The pain is coming in waves that make
him hunch over the wheel, but he keeps going.
Holds the steering wheel with his legs. Punches the radio. Music
crashes in on us. A grimace of pleasure from Aron.

The occasional sign flashes past. Seems to leave a trace on his

retina, on the screen.

168 EXT. TOWN. NIGHT. 168

Aron is driving through a large, deserted town. All the street
signs and shop lights seem extra-bright, painful on the eye.
These, too, are leaving a faint, hallucinogenic trace on the
screen. Aron is clearly getting weak.

ARON
C’mon, c’mon. Nearly there.

169 EXT. SUBURBAN STREET. NIGHT. 169

Aron gets out of his truck. Walks up the middle of the street.
Lit from behind by streetlights, he strikes a battered but
heroic figure as he strides towards us in silhouette. Turns into
the drive of a house.

170 EXT. RANA’S APARTMENT. NIGHT. 170

Stands on the step. Gathers himself from the pain in his hand.
Leans on the door, resting his head. Pulls back. Rings the bell.
ARON
Rana.
 53
A light goes on. A cautious voice.
RANA O/S
Who’s there?

ARON
Rana, it’s Aron.
RANA O/S
Aron?

Rana opens the door. We see her standing there in all her
beauty. Behind her the room is lit softly. A fire burns in the
grate. It is a vision of intimacy, comfort, safety.

In slow motion, Rana smiles at Aron. She holds out her arms to
him.
We see Aron’s face. He is talking, but no sound is coming out of
his mouth.

Rana keeps smiling. Steps to one side to invite him in.

Aron trying to communicate, trying to form words.

Rana’s smile drops. She looks disappointed. Slowly, slowly,
closes the door.

C/U: ARON’S FACE

Aron’s lips are moving. He is desperately trying to say

something.

171 INT. CANYON. NIGHT. 171

Aron’s lips are still moving, desperately. But he is in the rope
bag. He never went anywhere. Oh, Jesus.

He rips off the rope bag. Wailing, screams, cries. Finally,

after so much control, so much order, this is despair. Naked,
terrifying despair. A true rending of a soul gone beyond hope
for release or rescue, into the darkest pit of loneliness. This
is a man, dying on his own in the universe.

ARON
Oh, God, oh God, oh God....
Gradually the sobbing subsides. He is slumped by the boulder,
encased in his own pity. Motionless for a long, long time.

172 EXT. CANYON. SUNRISE. 172

 54
Hundreds of miles of canyon. The inner canyons change from dark
umbers and black shadows to immense bands of pastel yellow,
white, green and a myriad shades of red. A hallucinogenic
movement towards light.
173 C/U: DIGITAL NUMERALS. 173
The massive numbers go from 6.59 to 7.00.

Title.
Tuesday.

174 INT. CANYON. SUNRISE. VIDEO MESSAGE THREE. 174

V/O
Good morning, America!

There’s a chorus of Good Mornings from a thousand American TV and

radio shows from Texas to Oregon, Massachusetts to the Carolinas.
ARON
Good morning, everyone! It’s seven
o’clock in Canyonland, USA. Today, on
the boulder, we’ve got a special guest
- the self-styled American Superhero
Aron Ralston. Shout it out, Aron!
Applause from the studio audience. Where the hell did they come
from?
Flashes of Aron’s photos. Hero poses on top of various snowy
peaks, crags, on bikes with huge panoramas stretching away
beneath him.
ARON (CONT’D) Thank
you! Pleasure to be here!
Suddenly, Aron has adopted the role of chat-show host, switching
voices and persona with frightening dexterity.

ARON (CONT’D)
Can I say a big hi to Mom and Dad in
Englewood, Colorado?

ARON THE HOST

Mom and Dad! Never forget Mom and Dad.
Right, Aron?
ARON
Umm. Yeah. Sorry I didn’t pick up the
other night, Mom. Would have told you
where I was going and - well - wouldn’t
be stuck here now, would I?

ARON THE HOST

 55
Well, I always like to say, your
supreme selfishness is our gain, Aron.
Anyone else you’d like to say hi to?
ARON
Sure. Hi Brion at work! I’m not gonna
make it in today, I’m afraid.
A big laugh from the audience.
ARON THE HOST
A question coming in from another Aron,
this one in Loser Canyon, Utah. Aron
asks: “am I right in thinking that even
if Brion at work did notify the police,
they’d put a 24 hour hold on it before
filing a missing person’s report, which
means that you’d only become officially
missing midday Wednesday at the
earliest?’
ARON
Right on the money, Aron. So they’d get
about four hours searching before dark,
then they’d call it off until Thursday
first light - by which time I’ll be
dead!
ARON THE HOST
And how do you know all of this, Aron
from Loser Canyon, Utah?
Puts his finger to the invisible ear-piece as if talking to the
questioner down the line.
ARON
Oh, well, I know all this ‘cos I’m a
volunteer in the rescue service- I’m
something of a big, fucking, hard,
hero. I can do it all. On. My. Own. You
see?
ARON THE HOST
Yes, I do see. And is it true that
despite, or maybe because you’re a big,
fucking, hard hero you neglected to
tell anyone where you were going?
ARON
That is entirely correct.
A pause.
ARON THE HOST
Anyone?
ARON
Anyone.
 56
ARON THE HOST
Oops.
ARON
Oops.
His unnaturally cheerful face falls as the energy seeps away.
Stares straight into camera. Devastated.

ARON (CONT’D)
Mom, Dad, I really love you guys. I
wanted to take this time to say the
times we've spent together have been
awesome. I haven't appreciated you in
my own heart the way I know I could.
Mom, I love you. I wish I'd returned
all your calls. Ever.
I really have lived this last year.
Beat.

ARON (CONT’D)
Sonja, your wedding. Have a good one.
Zach’s a good guy. I know I promised I’d
play at your wedding. We’d play. Real
sorry about that.

Beat

ARON (CONT’D)
I wish I had learned some lessons more
astutely, more rapidly, than I did. I
love you guys. I'll always be with you.
Electronic static.

175 INT. CANYON. DAY. 175

Aron, slumped. A noise, a swoop of wings. He grabs the camera
just in time to catch the very end of the raven’s flight along
the line of the canyon.

ARON
Shit. Missed it. 8.31. He’s late. Still
missed it.

We can hear his heart pounding. Unnaturally fast. He holds his

hand to it, trying to calm it, slow it down.

A flash of a woman’s finger tracing a circle on his naked chest

where his heart lies.

176 INT. CANYON. DAY. 176

 57
A hand plunging the multi-tool blade straight into his arm. Up
to the hilt.
He lets go, leaving the knife embedded. He swoons, and stares at
it, the whole picture going blurred for a moment. He tightens
the carabiner attached to the makeshift tourniquet on his upper
arm then grasps the tool and wriggles it slightly. The blade
connects with something hard. He taps the knife down and feels
it knocking on the radius bone on his upper forearm.

He puts his ear close to his arm and wiggles the knife again. We
hear the thocking noise.

ARON
Bone.

He pulls the knife out, opening the wound.

ARON (CONT’D)
No way.
Said with despair. Wipes the sweat away. So dry in the mouth, he
is gagging. Pulls the lid off his water bottle. Shakes it.
Drinks down the last precious drops.

Holds the bottle above his mouth to catch the final drops. Licks
the inside as far as his tongue will reach. Screws the lid back
on. Puts the bottle back down.

C/U: DIGITAL NUMERALS.

8.00

Loosens the tourniquet. Watches the blood come back into his
arm.

Picks up the video camera.

177 INT. CANYON. DAY. VIDEO MESSAGE FOUR. 177

Again, there’s a touch of hysteria lurking in the delivery. A
mixture of too formal and too wild.
ARON
At precisely eight AM, I finished the
last of the water. The last of the
clean water, anyway. Kinda gulped it
down in response to... Tried cutting
off my arm again... Let’s just say it
didn’t go that well.
He swings the camera onto the bloody hole he has made in his
arm.

ARON (CONT’D)
 58
A short career in surgery as it turns
out. Surprisingly little blood - I
guess it’s thickening up but... These
knives. No way. The bone. Can’t get
through the bone. Blunt.
(MORE)

ARON (CONT’D)
Next Christmas a proper Leatherman,
yeah, Mom? Next Christmas....
He shrugs.
ARON (CONT’D)
Well, I tried.
Long pause.
ARON (CONT’D)
Out of water.
An even longer pause.
ARON (CONT’D)
I’m really fucked now.

178 INT. CANYON. TWILIGHT. 178

Night is falling. Aron is slumped in his harness, leaning
against the boulder. Perhaps for the first time we get the sense
that he has given up.

179 INT. CANYON. NIGHT. REAL TIME. 179

Aron tips the Camelbak very cautiously towards his mouth. Takes
a mouthful of urine. Retches. But keeps it down. Summons all
his strength and takes another sip.

Retches again.

180 INT. ROPE BAG. NIGHT. 180

He holds the video camera at waist height and switches it to
playback. He rewinds through his messages. Stops, switches off
playback and rewinds the blue LCD screen to save battery. The
light is surreal, soft LCD hell.
 59
181 INT. DOME POOL. DAY. VIDEO FOOTAGE. 181
Kristi and Megan. The Dome. They clamber out in wet clothes -
it’s from after their first jumps. We see all three of them
climb and fall and get out of the water and climb and fall,
smashing into the azure water.
Their faces are dripping wet, beaming mad, screaming and
howling, completely natural, children really, on their first
helter-skelter / Big Dipper.
He rewinds this time in vision. Kristi’s bra and pants are
soaking. Megan’s top cascades water as she rises out of the
water.

182 INT. ROPE BAG. NIGHT. 182

For Aron the volume of his and their shouting is deafening and
the first human sounds he has heard for days. He watches,
staring, laughing; not laughing, staring, eyes tearing in
selfpity.

C/U: VIDEO CAMERA

HE STOPS IT IN VISION
There’s water, joy, 2 beautiful girls, happiness, sensuality,
company, freedom...

183 INT. ROPE BAG. NIGHT. 183

He looks at the picture and then into the bag. His breathing is
hard, pronounced. He carefully tells himself...

ARON
No. No. Don’t.

He sees the moisture on the inside of the bag, condensation. He

licks it with his sticky tongue, twice, three times. He looks
back at the LCD screen.

The LCD looks back at him.

He kills the image and snaps it shut.

184 INT. CANYON. NIGHT. 184

 60
Aron smashing at the rock.

185 INT. CANYON. NIGHT. 185

Aron decants his urine from the Camelbak into his water
bottle.

CUT TO:

186 INT. CANYON. NIGHT. 186

The head-lamp is weak, almost dead on batteries. Aron is
chipping at an entirely new area of rock. This is odd.

Then we see what he is chipping. His name and the date he was
born. And the date he is going to die. He is chipping his own
headstone. There is something jumpy about it. Missing frames.
Unnatural.

187 INT. CANYON. NIGHT. 187

Rope bag on head, a bout of intense shivering.

188 INT. CANYON. NIGHT. 188

More fast-motion chipping. He stops. Utterly still. There’s
something in the dark behind him. Coming towards him?

189 BIG C/U. NIGHT. 189

Aron’s eyes snap open from his micro-sleep.

190 INT. CANYON. NIGHT. 190

More crazed chipping. A noise. He turns. There’s definitely
something there.

He looks demented with silent fear. Fumbles for something in his

sack. Pulls out his stills camera and charges the flash. We hear
it humming as it charges.

The canyon bursts with light as his camera flash goes off. For a
split second, in front of him stands the inflatable Scooby Doo,
its arms waving madly at him. And then, blackness again. He
charges the flash again. He flashes again. This time, empty
canyon. Aron whimpers in the dark.
191 INT. CANYON. DAY. 191
Aron’s head, lolling at the neck as if the muscles are gone,
mouth open, staring up at the slot of blue sky above. Slowly, a
 61
747 crosses the canyon; high, silver, untouchable. He watches it
all the way. We can hear his heart racing. He holds his left
hand to his heart, hoping to calm it down.

192 INT. STADIUM. NIGHT. 192

Thousands of people enjoying the basketball. Aron and Rana are
in their midst and in the middle of a furious row. Aron’s
shoulder POV again.

RANA
(mad with frustration and pain) If
I go, if I get up from this seat, I’m
not getting a fucking coke, Aron, I’m
gone, you understand? You and me.
Gone. Forever. Is that what you want?
Huh?

Clearly, Aron is silent. She gets up, turns to let him stop her.

RANA (CONT’D)
Nothing. Rien. Fuck! You are frozen, you
know that? Okay. Over.

She starts ramming her way past the spectators in the row.

193 INT. CANYON. DAY. 193

Aron imagines her brushing past and above him, reliving it. His
hand is still on his heart, like the Pledge.

194 INT. STADIUM. NIGHT. 194

As Rana reaches the end of the row we see how upset she is. But
her final comment is sad, not angry.

RANA
You’re gonna be so lonely, Aron.
And she goes. Revealing him alone in the crowd. He is present in
his POV scenes for the first time. It’s shocking to see how
healthy he is. And how embarrassed he is by the public row. He
looks around the roaring stadium.

The crowd splits the screens, as at the beginning. Their faces

smear, dragged and distorted from one screen to the next.
On one of the screens, Aron is alone in the canyon, looking at
himself in the only empty seat amongst thousands.
 62
INT/EXT VARIOUS
The rest of Wednesday and Wednesday night play out through the
triptych. Repetition is used to create a trippy sense of losing
coherence- sometimes there are three Arons doing the same thing.
Sometimes, the past or the present are running on different
sections of the triptych at the same time.
At key moments, it resolves to one image and then back again.
Things seem to loop and his close-ups almost seem to watch the
loops happening again and again. This is particularly true
inside the rope bag at night. When his light is switched on,
it’s bleached and monstrously overlit, like cruel HD close-ups.
Without water, his disintegration is terrifyingly fast.

When the head-lamp is off, we establish a night vision of green

and blue that allows us to witness him in hiding. The images
play out on the interior surface of the bag. The effect is like
wraparound Imax, multi-screen Technicolor.

195 195
LEFT SCREEN MIDDLE SCREEN RIGHT SCREEN

Aron’s foot Aron is falling Big C/U of in

the dagger of again, slow, slow digital numbers
sunlight. Beyond it motion. as they move
we see someone, from 11.32 To
out of focus, 11.33. A
voice: carrying 2 huge
office water MOM V/O: (the
dispensers by sing-song of
a their necks. The man long-ago
hideseems to be in cowboy and-seek
game) gear. He comes up to
Aron and puts them down. Aron? Where are
you?
ARON:
Thanks, Blue John. Smeary footage
of Aron Aron chipping away
hammering at the at the rock...
top of the knife Chip, chip, chip.
with a shot-putt
sized boulder.
SONJA V/O:
(singsong, ARON: I hate
unconcerned) this rock.

Aron...! Has anyone But he keeps

seen Aron? going.

Aron drinks the Camelbak A thousand

of piss. He retches, drinks adverts
 63
tries to keep it down. flash by: Coca-
Cola,7-Up, beer, The raven flies
VIDEO MESSAGE. Kool Aid... overhead.
Aron’s answer-
phone. ARON: It’s no slurpee. The red
light huge in
screen,
blinking and
A thermal imaging blinking.
shot of Aron, the colours Huge digital changing
as the temperature thermometer crashes down.
numbers dropping MOM V/O: 54-
53-52-51. Just Mom here...
C/U of Aron’s hope you’re
terrified face. having a good
Eyes blinking. time....

VIDEO MESSAGE:
Digital shadows
of what was on
the tape
originally
Aron ski-ing in
dazzling
sunlight - scar
across screen
and disappear.

ARON: Rana, I’ve

been thinking
about you girl.

Beat.

ARON:
One of the things
I’m learning here
is that I didn’t
enjoy people’s
company that I
was with enough.
Or as much as I
could have.

ON ALL THREE SCREENS:

A shaft of sunlight hits the canyon. Moves from left to
right, crossing all three screens with pink, suffused,
light.

LEFT SCREEN MIDDLE SCREEN RIGHT SCREEN

 64
Four hands on A small fire VIDEO MESSAGE:
the piano. Sonja crackling and and Aron
playing burning. ARON: a duet: ‘Heart
Superimposed on A lot of really and Soul’. They
the flames are good people have are good.
digital numerals spent time with
rising. 51-52-53.. me..... A
hand puts a pot
of beans on top of Digital snow
the fire. Stirs footage scars the
pot. Rubs his again. He is hands
together and struggling to be toasts
them. coherent.

ARON: Aron’s
friends I wanted him... appear
in the canyon. Rob... to respect
Erik, Sonja, Mark, BLUE JOHN: me for my Jon,
Brandon, Chip Perfect for bacon accomplishments...
and Norm. They all and beans. not for how I
walk towards... treat others...

Aron’s parents’ sofa,

which is sitting in
the middle of the
canyon right in the Aron watches
shaft of light. They them, giving
sit on the sofa, each one a
stand behind it, spacey smile of
perch on the arms. recognition.

Smile at him. ARON:

Erik, Jon, hi
Erik .. Brandon,
howya doing?
Mark, long time
man... Chip,
Norm.. What’s
happenin’?

ON ALL THREE SCREENS:

Aron’s huge eyes blink in slow motion, changing the screens
to:

LEFT SCREEN MIDDLE SCREEN RIGHT SCREEN

The inflatable The disembodied A table groaning

Scooby Doo waves camera wanders the with liquids.
eerily in the dark. party, searching Beers,
Margaritas into faces who
juice.... Huge KRISTI V/O: smile politely but
C/U of a bottleWhy don’t you come turn away.
opener cracking with us? Kick back
the top of a beer and have a beer?
- the sharp
 65
little hiss of The shot of Aron’s
pleasure. It Dad again, the
repeats again and glass of soda
again. Hiss, raised to his lips.
hiss, hiss.
We zoom in and in
on the glass until
it is just pixels.

ON ALL THREE SCREENS:

Aron drinks from the Camelbak, retching, swearing, gulping.

INT. CANYON

A Margarita hovering in the canyon.

LEFT SCREEN MIDDLE SCREEN RIGHT SCREEN

VIDEO MESSAGE:
For the first time,
inside the rope bag.
It’s night, but he’s
monstrously lit and
deteriorating fast.
ARON: Aron’s video of Megan Stills of
Aron’s I’m holding on here, and Kristi jumping many
summits but time’s going into the pool runs flash
by. really slow. My backwards, backwards.
heart’s beating like
crazy. I swear it’s Stills of him
three times what it as a child
with should be. glasses,
at school
with A shot of Rana at even
bigger the roof-top party,
glasses and at lit by God. The slow,
home as a baby. stop-frame movement allows us to
examine every inch of her throat, her mouth, her
eyes as she slowly, slowly turns towards camera.

RANA V/O: Aron continues his

Glad you made it. VIDEO MESSAGE to
camera. Slurry, but
bright-eyed.

ARON: Huge, molten

Been doing a lot of rocks tumble
thinking. Something towards us out
amazing. Really. of the dark.
 66
Amazing. This boulder. Were one to
hit us we
would be
obliterated in
an instant.

RANA V/O:
I love you.

ON ALL THREE SCREENS:

A comet streaks fast across the screens, trailing an arc of
impossibly beautiful fire and sparks.

LEFT SCREEN MIDDLE SCREEN RIGHT SCREEN

Aron continues his

VIDEO MESSAGE. The boulder. First
ARON: as a
photograph, This boulder’s been
then a computer waiting for me all
generated 3D my life. And all its
representation, life. Isn’t that The comet powers on.
rotating and awesome? Since it was
spinning to show some bit of a
all its angles. meteorite a million MOM V/O:
billion years ago. (Casual) Finally a
thermal
Up there in space. imaging shot.
Its been waiting. To Where is he?
land here. Right here.
And me, I’ve been moving
towards it all my life.

ON ALL THREE SCREENS:

Aron continuing the video message. He leans in, earnestly
trying to convey this idea.

ARON
My DNA brought me right here. From the
minute I was born. Every breath I’ve
taken, every act has been leading to
this. To this little crack in the
earth’s surface. To this boulder.

LEFT SCREEN MIDDLE SCREEN RIGHT SCREEN

ARON: ARON: ARON:

Cosmic. Incredible. Beautiful.

 67
On all three screens, he smiles.
LEFT SCREEN MIDDLE SCREEN RIGHT SCREEN
On all three panels, we see different images of Mom, Dad, Sonja
and Rana, mixing and merging places on the screen. Aron is
oblivious to the voices. He is chipping away at the rock.

RANA V/O
There he is!

MOM V/O
He’s over here!

SONJA
(sing song)
Found you!

ON ALL THREE SCREENS:

The sun spills onto Aron’s head. He lolls back, bathing in
it.

196 INT. CANYON. DAY. 196

ARON
Sorry about the wedding.

INT. SOFA CHAMBER.

Sonja sits on the sofa in the canyon.

ON ALL THREE SCREENS:

LEFT SCREEN MIDDLE SCREEN RIGHT SCREEN

A montage of video messages, scratchy static in between.

ARON (CONT’D)
8.15. No raven....8.20....No raven.
8.30....My raven didn’t come. So. I
guess that’s it.

Rana at the The blinking

baseball game red light of
Turning to camera. answer-phone.

RANA:
You’re gonna be
So lonely, Aron.

ON ALL THREE SCREENS:

Aron shivering in the rope bag:

 68
INT. ROPE BAG. NIGHT.
Electronic static for a moment.
The screen comes back to life again, focussed on Aron again. He
is struggling to communicate through his slow death.
ARON (CONT’D)
All of this. It all makes sense.
Everything comes together. Me, I chose
it. Chose to turn away from everyone.
Chose... this. Sort of perfect, really.
He’s fading out, like a radio station out of range. Pulls
himself back for one last effort.
ARON (CONT’D)
This is important. I need you all to
understand. Every one of you. I need
you to understand that it’s okay. All
of this...
He smiles at the camera. A brave, unmanic, genuine smile.

ARON (CONT’D)
I’m- I’m cool with it. At peace. It’s
okay. It’s alright. Really. Everything.
Is. Alright.
And he clicks the camera off.

BLACK.
Out of the darkness we are gradually aware that we are staring
at the liquid black of Aron’s eyeball. It blinks once. You can
hear it. Eye socket rasping against eyeball.

A rumbling thunderous sound grows and grows as the three panels

turn into two.

LEFT SCREEN RIGHT SCREEN

When it can get no louder a Aron shakes
uncontrollably. horse leaps the 6 ft gap at the
There’s dust everywhere. top of the canyon. It’s followed
Parts of his face seem to by dozens of horses
stampeding slowly implode. It’s as across his roof.
though he’s decaying into
dust.

EXT. SKY. DAY. SINGLE SCREEN.

Through a veil of dust we can just see the raven beat its

wings across the canyon.

197 INT. CANYON DAY. WIDE. HALF OF DOUBLE SCREEN. 197

 69

LEFT SCREEN RIGHT SCREEN

Aron’s body mass seems to C/U: Inside the bag,
the collapse in a soft explosion dry decay
has almost of dust, fine as chalk. obliterated
his face entirely.

198 INT. CANYON. DAY. SINGLE SCREEN. 198

Ants move across Aron’s lifeless face. No movement at all.

199 INT. CANYON. DAY. 199

A shaft of sunlight beyond him in the open canyon turns the

screen glowing pink, orange, golden. The sound of a giggle.
Definitely a giggle. The laugh of a happy, small child.

200 BIG C/U. 200

Aron’s eye slowly opens.

201 INT. CANYON. DAY. SINGLE SCREEN. 201
Aron lifts the rope-bag off his
face.

202 INT. OPEN CANYON. DAY. 202

Standing right in the glare of the sunlight, stands a small boy.
Right next to the sofa on which Aron’s friends gathered earlier.
He can’t be more than three years old. Standing there in a red
polo shirt. The boy smiles at him.

203 INT. CANYON. DAY. 203

Aron stares back at him. A figure walks to join the boy in the
open canyon. It’s Aron. The sunlight hitting his face like a
train. We can’t see his damaged arm, but it is clear that he is
free. He keeps moving towards the boy. And the boy starts
towards him, running until Aron crouches and lifts him, laughing
into the sun.
204 INT. CANYON. DAY. 204
Aron stares at them playing, at them prancing around and on the
sofa, pretending to walk downhill behind the sofa. A happy day.
Like any father and his son.
 70

He stretches towards the image, yearning. His arm stops him, but
he keeps stretching. When he looks back to the open canyon, only
the boy is there now. Sitting. Smiling.

Aron stretches further, using his feet to push him up over the
rock.

Aron blinks and the boy is gone.

Suddenly, Aron is wide awake, focussed. He feels his arm with
his good hand. Contorts himself so that he is weighting the
trapped arm.

205 INT. BONE. DAY. 205

We are watching the bleached-white bone of Aron’s radius in
startling close up. Stripped of blood and sinew, it is pure and
beautiful bone. And when Aron leans towards the boy, it bends.

206 INT. CANYON. DAY. 206

ARON
Yes. Yes!

He pulls and pulls with his left hand over the boulder, creating
maximum upward force on his right arm. Starts bouncing. Hard,
harder. His teeth are clamped shut. No sound.

POW.
Like a gunshot in the canyon, the bone breaks. The sound echoes.
He looks at the bone pushing down against the skin. He touches
the jagged edge. No sound.

Amazingly, he smiles.
ARON (CONT’D)
Well, you’re in it now.

He humps his body down and under the chockstone, smearing with
his feet against the wall. He pushes his body further and
further round the dark side of the chockstone with a silent,
furious intensity.

BANG.

A second gun shot echoes around the canyon. He’s sweating

heavily and yet has a euphoria in his eyes. He checks the
underneath of his arm. Yep, another broken bone. A yelp of
laughter escapes. He can rotate his forearm as if it’s a shaft
inside a housing.
 71

Still, he makes no sound. There is a high-pitched ringing in his

ears. Nothing else.

207 INT. CANYON. DAY. 207

Picks up the knife. Pauses, with the blade above his wrist. Here
we go. He pushes the knife hard to the hilt in between two veins
in his wrist.

Sweat pouring out of him. His tongue flicks out automatically to

catch the occasional drop.

Sawing downwards, he makes as large a hole as he can without

tearing any of the noodle-like veins. He puts the knife in his
teeth and pokes his left forefinger and thumb inside his right
arm.

Drops of sweat falling on the knife blade.

He pulls muscle up, nearer the surface, allowing his knife to
slice and pare away at a fragment of muscle bit by bit. It
takes a dozen actions, each time the knife goes back to his
teeth so his free hand can arrange the meat.

Sort. Pinch. Rotate. Slice.

Blood flows, though surprisingly little. He stops briefly to
twist up the tourniquet.

Silence.

208 INT. CANYON. DAY. 208

He can’t cut the tendon, no matter how hard he slices. But
nothing will stop his addiction to surgery now. He fold in and
swaps the blades for the pliers. He uses them to bite into an
edge of the yellowy tendon. Then squeezing and twisting, he
tears away a fragment.

Grip. Squeeze. Twist. Tear.

Finally, he tears the last fibre of tendon. Stares at his
handiwork. With a sniff of satisfaction, returns to his knife
blade.

209 INT. CANYON. DAY. 209

Finally, all that remains inside is a pale white strand. Like a
swollen length of angel-hair pasta. The nerve.
He touches it gently with the blade of his knife.
ARON
Aaaagggggghhhhhh!
 72

After so long in silence, the scream is shocking, long and

utterly terrifying. He’s stunned. Stock-still with fear.

210 INT. CANYON. DAY. 210

He stares at the nerve. The nerve looks back. It’s like a
Mexican stand-off. It could go on all day.

211 INT. CANYON. DAY. 211

Out of the corner of his eye, the boy is there. Smiling
patiently. Aron whips his head around. The boy is gone. But he
definitely saw him.

ARON
Just this.

He pulls the knife in and pulls it towards him: an inch, two

inches. It lengthens like pulling a guitar string. Unimaginable
pain builds in his body until finally the nerve snaps. And Aron
snaps.

ARON (CONT’D)
Aaaagghh.

Retching, slumps in a heap, head lolling forward, his head

buzzing and ringing with trauma.

212 C/U: DIGITAL NUMERALS. 212

The numbers flick fast. There’s ten minutes gone in a flash. The
numbers slow... and stop.

213 INT. CANYON. DAY. 213

He’s back upright, cutting, sawing, stretching the skin like
he’s a butcher, using the canyon wall as his chopping block.
Huge energy suddenly. Sweat running in his eyes, blurred vision,
rasping, parched breathing.

And then he’s staggering backwards. Free. His hand, just stuck
there, a stump in the crack. He stares at it, wild-eyed. He’s
out here. And his hand is in there. Weird.

His head is swarming with colours, his legs faltering like a new
foal. He stumbles up to the canyon wall. Stares close at his own
obituary: Aron Oct 75 - April 03 RIP.
ARON
Aron, you are not dying here.

214 INT. CANYON. DAY. 214

 73

Aron is busy. Wrapping his arm in the plastic grocery sack and
then wrapping that with the yellow webbing he wore around his
neck to keep himself warm at night. He stuffs his arm into the
empty Camelbak pack and throws the straps around his neck to
make a sling.

Packs his bag, water reservoir, video, pocket knife. Grabs his
climbing rope and heads off down the canyon.

Turns. Goes back. Takes the camera from the outside pouch of his
sack and takes a photograph of the boulder - and his severed
hand.

Looks up, around, searching for somebody.

ARON
Thank you.

215 INT. CANYON. DAY. 215

The motion and energy of the action movie returns.

It’s like Ray Liotta’s final day in Goodfellas; relentless,
frustrating, pressure of life again now he’s free from his tomb.
Deeper and deeper he goes, twisting and turning through the
scoops of sandstone, his rope trailing behind him a hundred
feet. We follow its progress snaking after him.

Specks of blood on the canyon walls.

216 INT. TIGHT SLOT. DAY. 216

He stops at the top of a squeeze that drops to the canyon floor.
He takes a couple of hyper-ventilating breaths and just throws
himself down it.

Gets to his feet. Stumbles on. Nothing will stop him. Not
even...

217 INT. SQUEEZE. DAY. 217

We see him nudging his shoulders along the squeeze, each
contraction forward sending waves of pain shuddering through
him.
His teeth are set in a grimace, almost a snarl.

218 INT. CANYON. DAY. 218

The canyon becomes a chute, increasingly steep, deep and dark.
But at the end, there is a glow of light, pink, red, soft,
getting brighter by the step. He stumbles forward, the rope
whipping around the corners. Faster and faster until....
 74

219 EXT. ROCK SHELF. DAY. 219

....we burst into dazzling midday sun on a rock shelf perched
dizzyingly high above the canyon floor. It’s a two hundred foot
sheer drop to the bottom. Vast cliffs face him opposite.

He drinks in the sun, the space. Stumbles over to the edge.

Sees...

Water. A stagnant pool of black water.

Turns back, suddenly desperate, rabid. Is searching the rock for
something. Doesn’t take long to find two clean, shiny, metal
bolts drilled into the rock. Gets down on his knees and kisses
them as he were the Pope on new soil.

Teeth biting at the knots in the rope. Sand all over his lips,
blood on his face from the amputation.
Every single knot must be untied with his good hand and his
teeth. Stops, suddenly overwhelmed with thirst and exhaustion.
Reaches into his pack and pulls out the Camelbak. Empties urine
all over his head. He is licking and retching all at the same
time. Stops. Instantly.

He can hear a noise. We can hear a noise. A shuffling, zipping

sound. The rope is uncoiling over the edge, running faster and
faster. There’s only a few feet left.

He lunges across the ledge and catches it just in time. Lies

there whimpering.

220 EXT. ROCK SHELF. DAY. 220

Aron inches over the edge. Difficult rappelling with one arm.
His feet skid sideways.

A yell of pain and he is spinning down the rope, hurtling out of

control towards the pool of water. This is the end.

221 EXT. CANYON. POOL. DAY. 221

He hits the pool with a crash.

222 EXT. ROCK SHELF. DAY 222

But he is back at the top of the rappel. Nothing happened. We
see him control his worst, last fear. Inching slowly, his feet
walk their way carefully down the rock. His eyes never leave the
pool of dirty water, and that is our focus too.

223 EXT. POOL. DAY. 223

 75

His feet gently touch the sandy floor, still tied to the rope.
He staggers to the pool and buries his head in it. Dead leaves,
insects, just two inches of undrinkable water. But he drinks it,
bathes his head in it. Drinks again. The sounds coming out of
his mouth are half cave-man, half ecstasy.

Kneeling in the water, he pulls out the map. Gets up and

staggers off. Turns, comes back and scoops up water into his
water bottle. Drinks another litre with huge gulps of pleasure.

224 EXT. CANYON. DAY. 224

He walks, shedding any weight that might slow him down.

Carabiners, his harness, the rope, all dropped behind him
without a thought. Blood is seeping from the stump of his arm
onto his shirt. Every so often, he stops and drinks deep from
the water bottle and the Camelbak.

225 EXT. CANYON. DAY. 225

Aron zig-zags the canyon from one stagnant pool to another. He
finds a smear of dripping water on a vertical cliff and puts his
lips to it and sucks.

226 EXT. CANYON. DAY. 226

A series of jump cuts as he walks, his progress measured in
blood; first on his shorts, then spreading and dripping down
his leg and then dripping onto the sand. A trail of drops
behind him.

At a junction with another canyon entrance he stops, pulls the

photocopied map out of his pocket, looks woozily around.
Staggers on.
We are focussed on his shoes pushing through the sand. He only
has one sock on and the bare foot is rubbed raw by the sand. He
is limping badly.
227 INT. HORSESHOE CANYON. DAY. 227
Finally, he comes to the Great Gallery. A 330 foot long wall
with dozens of broad-shouldered figures painted and chipped into
the rock by strangers 3000 years ago.

The heat and his condition makes everything shimmer. He stops.

He salutes them in his own way and then limps on.

228 EXT. HORSESHOE CANYON. DAY. 228

 76

Seventy yards on, there are three more alien figures- tiny heads
and elongated bodies. Cave paintings come alive?

He tries to shout, but nothing comes out. Another attempt, lost

in the vastness of the canyon. The figures are disappearing in
the shimmer.
ARON
Help!

The figures stop. Turn.

ARON (CONT’D)
Help!

A terrible pause.
ARON (CONT’D)
Help me! I need help!
The figures begin to run towards him. We watch his face in close
up as they come. Tears come, now as the shimmering figures
shapes themselves into the first real people he has seen for
five days.

ARON (CONT’D)
My name is Aron Ralston. I was trapped
by a boulder on Saturday and I’ve been
without food or water for five days. I
cut my arm off this morning. I need
medical attention. My name is Aron
Ralston...

They look at this refugee from a horror movie. He is staring at

the water bottles hanging from their waist belts. This gives
them a way into his world. The moment is broken as they hurry to
offer him water. He pours it down his throat, bypassing the
swallow mechanism entirely.

229 INT. TV STUDIO. DAY. ERIC MEIJER’S TESTIMONY. 229

Eric’s English is almost perfect, although accented. His family
sit around him on comfy chairs in a tv studio.
ERIC MEIJER
We are the Meijers from Holland. At the
start of the trailhead, we talked to a
ranger who told about a car that was
parked in the area already for several
days and the owner might be missing in
the canyon. We joked that we would keep
our eyes completely open. After a hike
of five point three kilometers to the
Great Gallery, we returned after taking
photographs and suddenly heard a noise
behind us. Monique and I immediately
 77

realised that this had to be the

missing person. We didn’t find him, he
found us! We gave him our water and
Oreos.

230 EXT. HORSESHOE CANYON. DAY. 230

Back now live as Aron wolfs down the cookies and organises the
well-meaning but freaked Meijers. Aron is brutally practical.

ARON
Phone. Do you have a phone?

ERIC
Yes, but no signal. You should stop and
rest.

ARON
No, need to keep moving. Need a
helicopter. Who can run fastest? You. Go
fast. Take him.

Monique runs ahead with Andy, her son.

ARON (CONT’D)
Got more water?

ERIC
No.

Aron makes a disgusted tutting. Gets up and starts limping

forward again. Eric follows on behind, flapping ineffectually
around him, trailing in the wake of this machine for living.
After a while, he glances behind.

ARON
Keep up.

Nobody for six days and then people start turning up like London
buses. Another couple.

ARON (CONT’D)
Water. I need your water.

Dan hands over his water bottle. Aron drinks and drinks.

ARON (CONT’D)
Cell. Do you have a cell?

DAN
No. I’m Dan. I have some medical
training.

ARON
 78

Is it okay to drink so much water?

DAN.
Sure, so long as you don’t vomit.

Aron drinks more and more. He overhears....

DAN. (CONT’D) Make
sure he doesn’t pass out.

ARON
I gotta empty my shoes. Blister. My
foot’s killing me.

DAN.
Your foot?

Aron is utterly oblivious to this.

231 INT. TV STUDIO. DAY. ERIC MEIJER’S TESTIMONY. 231

ERIC
He cuts off his arm and his foot is
killing him?

232 EXT. CANYON. DAY. 232

ARON
You’ll have to re-tie the laces.
As he sits, his head slumps forward. He’s absolutely motionless.
Eric tries to talk to him, but there’s a pop song in his head
and he can barely hear him.

ERIC
Aron, are you okay? Stay with us, Aron.

DAN
Jesus, he’s asleep. Aron! Wake up!
Aron pulls his head up and sees in front of him a vision coming
from the sky. Whirling and screaming, dust blasting everywhere.
A helicopter.
233 EXT. HELICOPTER. DAY. 233
Very subjective, woozy camera moves as a strange, slightly
formal man pops out of the helicopter. He almost looks like he’s
part of the Matrix. All of this seen from Aron’s befuddled
perspective.
 79

MAN
Are you Aron?

ARON
Aron Ralston. Can I get a lift?

The man smiles at him in a strange way.

MAN
I guess so.

Aron looks at the beautiful white leather seats before he gets

in the chopper. Surreal. He touches them with his hands.

ARON
I’m gonna make a terrible mess of your
seat.

PILOT
Just get in buddy.
The helicopter sucks upwards into the sky leaving Dan and Eric
far below.

234 EXT. / INT. HOSPITAL. DAY. 234

The helicopter and gurney staff transfer him into the medic
room. He is surrounded by vertical giants and he lies horizontal
for the first time in six days.

ARON
Thank you for bringing me back.

BURLY MAN
That’s all your miracle days used up
kid. You can buy everyone a drink
later.

The Burly Man turns away, his job done.

ARON
Wait.

The Burly Man turns.

ARON (CONT’D)
Will you look after this for me?
He puts something into his hand: a small, folded knife. Aron’s
eyes close.
 80

235 INT. HOSPITAL. DAY. 235

Very soft light, a different place to the emergency room.
Through diffused light we perceive a figure sitting by the
curtains reading letters.

ARON
(dry, barely a whisper)
Mom.

MOM
Hey...

She goes over to him.

MOM (CONT’D)
Welcome back, Aron.
He squints at her. She immediately understands, reaches to the
table beside him, picks up a pair of glasses and puts them on
his face.

MOM (CONT’D)
Your spare pair from home. Dad’s on his
way from New York.
ARON
I’m so sorry.

MOM
Aron Ralston, you ever do that to me
again and I swear I’ll break both your
legs.

He looks down at the clean bandages, the place where his hand
should be, realises for the first time that a new life starts
here. Suddenly scared, his eyes fill with tears.

ARON
Oh, Mom, what am I gonna do?

MOM
You’re my son. You’re alive. That’s all
that matters for now.

Title:
1000 HOURS LATER

236 INT. UNDERWATER. DAY. 236

Underwater. A figure dives in, pulling strong breast strokes
down and towards us. Its Aron, fully recovered after surgery.
Eyes open, he pulls and pulls down through crystal clear,
oxygenated water. He pulls again releasing a huge chunk of air
into a metallic bubble.
 81

237 INT. PRESS CONFERENCE. DAY. 237

A room crammed with journalists all baying, shooting off flash
guns, waving microphones at him. Sandwiched between his Mom and
Dad behind a table, Aron can’t hear any of it, just his own
heart beating. He stares with a dazed smile on his face.

238 EXT. POOL. DAY. 238

We can see him underneath us, swimming along the floor of the
pool, like a diver building lung capacity.

239 INT. WEDDING. DAY. 239

A wedding. Sonja, Aron’s sister and Zach her groom. We are at
the reception. Hugging, laughing, drinking, toasting. Life in
all its ordinariness and wonder.

ARON’S DAD
This is a day every Father prays for.
His beautiful daughter married to a
fine boy - yes, you’re still a boy,
Zach -

Laughter from the crowd.

ARON’S DAD (CONT’D)

- but today is particularly special for
Donna and myself. A day we thought might
never happen. Not only do we welcome a
new son into our family, but we have our
son back. Which makes us the luckiest -
and happiest - parents in the United
States of America.

There is applause from the crowd. Aron raises his Margarita

glass in acknowledgement, though it’s clear he’d rather not be
the centre of attention.
240 EXT. POOL. DAY. 240

Aron deep under water. Pull and kick. Wanting oxygen now.

241 INT. RECEPTION HALL. SIDE ROOM. DAY. 241

The reception is well underway. Sonja pulls Aron out of the main
room towards a piano beneath the stairs.

SONJA
 82

Look what I found.

SONJA (CONT’D)
You promised.

ARON
Yeah, but-

SONJA
- the only butt is sitting right here.

And she plonks him down on the piano stool.

SONJA (CONT’D)
Move up.

He scoots along and she sits down next to him.

ARON
Sonja, this is crazy, I-
SONJA
- you can.

She places her hands on the keyboard. He looks at her. Puts his
hands on the keyboard. Three human fingers and one titanium one.
She counts them both in with her head.

SONJA (CONT’D)
And....

They start. The note C played three times. C, C, C. Tentative.

They’re really concentrating. C, B, A, B, C, D. The music is
becoming clear: it’s the piano tune from the film Big- Heart and
Soul. That simple, melody full of childlike charm.

E, E, E. They are beginning to flow.

E, D, C, D, E, F. They almost stumble but recover. On to the
high notes.

G, C....
And onto the finish: A, G, F, E, D, C...with a flourish as Aron
jumps the octaves with his titanium finger. And Sonja and Aron’s
faces split into the widest of grins.
SONJA (CONT’D)
Promise kept.

She kisses his cheek and is away, leaving Aron staring at the
keyboard.
 83

242 INT. UNDERWATER. DAY. 242

Aron is pushing for the surface, kicking hard, up, up towards

the sunlight.

243 INT. ARON’S TRUCK. NIGHT. 243

Aron driving.

244 EXT. SUBURBAN STREET. NIGHT. 244

Aron parks up. Gets out of the truck. We might recognise the
street.

245 EXT. SUBURBAN STREET. NIGHT. 245

We definitely recognise it now. It’s the same street he walked
up in his head- to Rana’s house.

246 EXT. RANA’S APARTMENT. NIGHT. 246

Knocks on the door. Stands back. Everything’s the same as
before, but different. Different colours, different sizes. The
memory street and house have become a real street and house.

The door opens.

RANA
Aron! My God.

Runs at him and folds him a huge hug. Keeps on hugging until
there’s barely any breath left in him. And he hugs back.
Finally, she disengages and wipes the tears from her eyes.

RANA (CONT’D)
You total fucker, Aron Ralston.

They laugh. She takes his hand and takes him inside.

247 INT. RANA’S APARTMENT. NIGHT. 247

RANA
My famous Margarita. Coming right up.
Rana is mixing drinks in the kitchen. From the living room, he
watches her. She moves beautifully.

She comes through with the drinks. Hands him a glass.

RANA (CONT’D)
What are we toasting? Multi-tools?
 84

ARON
The future.

RANA
Why not?

They chink glasses.

ARON
So, you and Tom broke up?

RANA
Nearly one year ago. Still friends,
but...

248 EXT. RANA’S APARTMENT. ROOFTOP. LATER. 248

They are sitting opposite each other sipping their Margaritas.
The sofa and deck chairs are still there, and so are the snow-
capped mountains.

ARON
I’m gonna finish the fourteeners this
winter or next.

RANA
Solo?

ARON
Yeah.

RANA
Huh.

ARON
I need to do it.
RANA
Sure.

ARON
Before. I couldn’t let anyone in. I know
that.
RANA
Didn’t have to be anyone, Aron. Just me.
ARON
I know.

Silence.
 85

ARON (CONT’D)
Rana, there’s something that I haven’t
told anyone. When I was in the canyon,
before I did it, when I thought I was
dead, I was hallucinating and I saw this
child, a little boy -

RANA
Not Jesus please...

ARON
He looked like my cousin CJ, but way too
young ...not him. Somebody else. I knew
he was mine- my child- and that this was
what lay in front of me. My future.
Rana, this little boy, he - he saved me.
Do you see? I thought maybe...

He looks at her. She doesn’t say anything.

ARON (CONT’D)
But it’s not going to be you, is it?

She takes his hands in hers, smiles sadly.

RANA
No, Aron, it’s not.
ARON
No.

RANA
Everyone who cares for you, a little bit
of them dies each time you go back out
there.

Rana leans over and tenderly kisses his cheek.

TRIPTYCHS.

The screen splits into three panels again.

249 INT. UNDERWATER. DAY. 249

He surges up and out of the water, takes a huge breath of
air. We see he is right next to the edge of the pool.
250 EXT. POOL. DAY. 250
There in front of him on the grass by the pool is the same sofa
as in the canyon. On it and around it, his friends and family.
There’s so many of them they fill the screen, all looking at
him.
 86

He looks right back at them and smiles.

On the panel next to Aron is a close up of the boy he saw in
the canyon.

CARD 1:
“Aron’s premonition came true.”

“He met his wife, Jessica, three years later.”

We see what has conjured the smile. The sofa has lost its
crowds. Now, sitting there, is the real Aron Ralston. Next to
him sits his wife, Jessica, holding a tiny baby in her arms.

CARD 2:
“Their son, Leo, was born in February, 2010.”
The actor, Aron, smiles at the scene in front of him. The past
and present greeting the future, fiction greeting fact.

CARD 3:
“Aron continues to be a climber and canyoneer”
Mixed into the split screen, a wintry scene of Aron on a
mountain ridge struggling through deep snow away from camera.
The thin rope snakes from us to him.

The screen fades to black.

CARD 4.
“He always leaves a note to say where he has gone”.

END CREDITS