broadly what I think happens in 127 Hours based solely on what I gathered from cultural osmosis and maybe having seen the trailer once and hearing that one thing that happens in it from before it was a movie
COOL UPDATE!
This script was featured in an episode of Never Seen It and I am well chuffed. Thanks so much Kyle <3FADE IN:
EXT: THE SUN - DAY
Somebody find out if we're allowed to get a direct shot of the Sun, because I know you're not supposed to look directly at it but I don't know if it counts if you film directly at it and watch the film. If no one knows maybe get an intern to try it out. Anyway, assuming we get the shot, pan down to a desert landscape. Cactus, animal skulls, all the tropes. Mountains in the background blur as hot air rises from the sand. In the foreground a scorpion scuttles into view, pauses to wipe sweat from its brow, then suddenly flees as a person's stomping foot fills the frame. Zoom out to reveal HUGH, WHO MAY OR MAY NOT BE PLAYED BY JAMES FRANCO, hiking alone through the wilderness.
TITLE: 0 HOURS
He stops suddenly and stares into the distance: he has spotted something interesting. He lifts the binoculars hanging round his neck and looks through them. We see what he sees via one of those old-timey binocular-outline-cutout shots: it is a bird's nest on a rocky outcrop, and in the nest is a bald eagle. It looks to one side and spreads its wings in a demonstration of patriotism.
He puts the binoculars in his bag and takes out a water bottle. There's not much water left. He holds the bottle in one hand and checks his wristwatch on the other, judging one against the other.
He packs up and sets off towards the nest.
TITLE: 0 HOURS (but the 0 rotates like on one of those hand counter doodads that club bouncers use, and now it says...)
TITLE: 1 HOURS
CUT TO:
EXT: CLIFF BASE - DAY
HUGH arrives at the base of the outcrop. He looks up, squinting in the Sun, and realises it's a lot higher than he realised. He checks his watch again.
He starts climbing.
He kisses his right hand.
He sees his left hand, and kisses that one too.
CUT TO:
EXT: CLIFF TOP - DAY
TITLE: 2 HOURS
HUGH reaches the top, exhausted, and looks down at his hands.
He spies the eagle's nest on the cliff edge
He tiptoes up to the nest with his hands outstretched, ready to strangle the eagle.
When he's finally close enough, he pounces - but the nest is empty!
The eagle, silhouetted against the Sun, appears behind him. He turns around slowly ...
The eagle flaps and squawks at HUGH, who stumbles backwards, trips, and falls off the cliff.
CUT TO BLACK
TITLE: 14 HOURS
EXT: CLIFF BASE - NIGHT
Close up on HUGH, unconscious. A coyote sniffs at the bloody wound on his head and does a little wee on it. This wakes him up.
He starts to get up, but doesn't quite make it because his right hand is trapped under a big rock.
CUT TO BLACK
TITLE: 20 HOURS
EXT: CLIFF BASE - NIGHT
HUGH is playing five-finger-fillet by holding a penknife in his mouth. He gets bored and gives up, and ends up playing with the knife, folding it in and out. It glints in the sunlight. He looks at the blade, then looks at his trapped hand, then the knife, and then the hand, and so on, an unreasonable number of times.
MONTAGE OF HUGH PASSING TIME TRAPPED IN THE DESERT
Suggested music: I Want To Hold Your Hand by The Beatles
48 HOURS: HUGH is playing Candy Crush
54 HOURS: HUGH is playing thumb war with the coyote
72 HOURS: HUGH is asleep
96 HOURS: HUGH is trying to braid his own hair, which is difficult because he can't see what he's doing and only has one hand free
108 HOURS: HUGH is masturbating, but is having little success because he keeps stopping to choke himself, then has to stop choking himself to masturbate, then figures out he can't do both and gives up.
CUT TO BLACK
TITLE: 120 HOURS
EXT: CLIFF BASE: MORNING
HUGH is checking Facebook. He is hosting an event called "Rescue Hugh (RescHugh 🙃)". He hits refresh, but the attendance is still "0 Going : 15 Maybe".
HUGH looks down at his left hand - he is making a fist and wiggling his thumb to make it look like a mouth is talking
ANDY takes the penkife and starts cutting off HUGH's other hand
CUT TO BLACK
TITLE: 126 HOURS
Close up of awesome hi-tech special effects, like all tendons and bones and stuff. Zoom out to reveal HUGH innocently slicing some ham - he's now safely at home in his kitchen.
INT: HUGH'S KITCHEN/BEDROOM - EVENING
A bag of groceries and a freshly bandaged wrist stump show that HUGH has just arrived from the hospital. He puts the ham into a sandwich and takes it to bed.
Sitting on the bed his phone buzzes, and he checks it. An alert from the US State Department is telling everybody to immediately begin practicing social distancing.
TITLE: 0 HOURS
FADE TO BLACK
POST-CREDITS SCENE - INT: HUGH'S BATHROOM - MORNING
HUGH is looking at a guide to safe handwashing. All the pictures show a pair of hands rubbing together in various ways. He looks down at the sink, then his one hand, then back to the guide, then back to the sink, and so on.
Never Seen It is an excellent podcast that I love