James Franco is following up his stint on General Hospital with a more adventurous role -- he's signed up to play a real-life mountaineer who amputated his own arm.
The actor has been cast in Danny Boyle's upcoming 127 Hours, based on the true story of climber Aron Ralston who was forced to saw off his limb after a boulder fell onto him while he was climbing in Utah in 2003.
Ralston was trapped in the canyon for five days before he used a blunt knife to free himself and was eventually rescued by helicopter.
Boyle is drafting the script with Simon Beaufoy, who wrote the screenplay for his 2008 hit Slumdog Millionaire.
Filming is scheduled to begin in March in Utah.
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