The award-winning director of Slumdog Millionaire said he plans to make a film about the mountaineer renowned for amputating his own arm after it was pinned by a half-ton boulder while he was hiking alone in Utah.

Danny Boyle, who also directed Trainspotting, said production on the movie 127 Hours will take place in Utah over 42 days in March and April. He said some of the filming will be done in Bluejohn Canyon, where Aron Ralston's ordeal took place.

Mr Ralston cut off his right arm with a dull blade in 2003 after he'd been pinned for several days at the bottom of the remote canyon, near Moab.

He later wrote a book about the experience, Between A Rock And A Hard Place, which inspired the film.

A Utah state panel approved a tax credit incentive of up to $2.8 million for the filming of his story.