“127 Hours” isn’t what you’d call a “feel-good movie.”
The world premiere of the intense flick came down Saturday at the Telluride Film Festival. At each of the two screenings, a person required medical attention.
The film tells the story of former Aspenite Aron Ralston, who cut off his own arm after being trapped by a giant boulder while hiking in an isolated canyon in Utah. It was directed by Danny Boyle (“Trainspotting,” “Slumdog Millionaire”) and stars It boy James Franco (“Eat Pray Love,” “Spider-Man 3”).
According to a statement from Fox Searchlight: “An older gentleman was lightheaded at the first screening, and the medics helped him calm down. (At the) second screening, (it) was a young woman (maybe 19 or 20) who had a panic attack. Paramedics attended to both people.”
These are the kind of reactions that came with the first showings of “Pulp Fiction” and “The Exorcist.”
The movie will play the Aspen Filmfest on Oct. 1 and 3. And Britta Erickson of the Starz Denver Film Festival confirms it will screen there during its Nov. 3-14 run.
Ralston lives in Boulder and was in Telluride and will be in Aspen. I bet he’ll be here too.
The movie will open to the public in Denver on Nov. 12. Get ready to be creeped out.
Hail to the chef.
Vail chef Kelly Liken was booted from Bravo’s “Top Chef” on Wednesday night, coming in fourth. But she’s No. 1 in town this weekend as a headliner at the Denver Food & Wine Classic. She’ll be doing demos Saturday — a world away from Singapore, where she got the ax.
“Every experience is a notch in your belt,” Liken said Thursday. “It’s disappointing when you get so close. But I consider my time on ‘Top Chef’ a success, and I’m proud of the food I cooked on (Wednesday’s) episode.”
The show has made her eponymous restaurant a Vail sensation — but she’ll be there all season. “My first love and responsibility is the time spent in my restaurant.”
Growing with the Joe. Joe Cocker grows some big tomatoes — with a little help from his friends, the best friend being a greenhouse next to his castle in Crawford.
The green-thumbed rocker is currently featured on the cover of Zone 4, a quarterly magazine dedicated to the trials and tribs of the gardeners in Colorado, Wyoming, Utah and Montana.
Dan Spurr and his wife, Andra, worked in boating publications when they moved from the East Coast to Bozeman, Mont., and started Zone 4. The mag has been around for two years, and it’s getting healthier by the issue, says Dan. The Cocker cover is getting some Colorado attention.
It was Andra who saw the need, says Dan. “There was very little help out there for people trying to grow in a difficult, short growing season,” he says. “We have high elevation, cool nights, drought, poor soil, hail.”
City spirit.
Dr. Drew Pinsky (“Celebrity Rehab”) is the keynote speaker at the Arapahoe House luncheon Sept. 24. . . . Bronco Champ Bailey and ex-Bronco John Lynch host the “Savor the Grape” wine extravaganza Sept. 20 at Morton’s DTC; proceeds go to the Darrent Williams Memorial Teen Center. . . . Sez who: “It may not be pretty, but surviving is grit and determination in its highest form.” Aron Ralston
Bill Husted’s column appears Sunday, Tuesday and Friday. You can reach him at 303-954-1486 or bhusted@denver . Take a peek at Husted’s next column at blogs.denver husted.
