Utah lands film project by 'Slumdog' director

SALT LAKE CITY — The award-winning director of "Slumdog Millionaire" says Utah's a great place to film. And he's got a script, a plan and a nice tax incentive to prove it.

Danny Boyle was in Salt Lake City on Thursday as the board of the Governor's Office of Economic Development unanimously approved a tax credit incentive of up to about $2.8 million for his next project, "127 Hours."

It is the story of Aron Ralston, the Colorado man who cut off his own lower arm to escape after he'd been pinned for several days under an 800-pound boulder in Bluejohn Canyon in Utah's Canyonlands. Ralston later wrote a book about the experience, "Between a Rock and a Hard Place," which inspired the movie.

Utah is a "full-service state," John Smithson, one of the film's producers, told the board, adding he's made two other movies in Utah.

"This story is a slam-dunk for Utah," said Boyle, noting that places as diverse as New Mexico and Budapest had pitched themselves as great locations. Boyle said the film, which will be made with 95 percent Utah crew, is both "exhilarating" and "grueling," but ultimately it celebrates "the life force that pulls (Ralston) back to his friends and family."

Production will take place over 42 days in March and April, with some of the filming in the canyon itself and the rest in a Salt Lake studio where the canyon will be recreated. Boyle said he hopes that Ralston "will be around a lot" during the making of the movie, although he acknowledged it might be too intense for him.

It's also an opportunity to showcase the state. Boyle promised to show the state's "great beauty in the film as well" to bring in tourists.

Rapid Films Inc. will receive a tax-credit incentive of up to 20 percent of the total dollars left in the state, expected to be just under $14 million.

The GOED board also approved a cash rebate of no more than $262,832 for Dragon Questions Productions, which is slated to begin filming "Dragon Fire" next month. That's a local production company and the estimated "spend" is $1.3 million.

The final incentive approved is a cash rebate of no more than $210,000 for production of "Hoovey" in February and March. The filmmaker, Hoovey LLC, is expected to spend just over $1 million in Utah.

e-mail: lois@desnews.com