Danny Boyle, whose "Slumdog Millionaire" won a ridiculous eight Oscars, is prepping his next project with Fox Searchlight: "127 Hours," a drama focusing on the story of mountaineer Aron Ralston.

Simon Beaufoy, who wrote "Slumdog," is in talks to write the script from a treatment by Boyle. Variety says the plan right now is to have the film ready for release by late 2010.

"127 Hours" is based on the true story of Aron Ralston, who amputated his own limb and rescued himself after his arm got pinned under a boulder for almost five days during a climb in Utah in 2003.

Boyle's directing credits also include "Sunshine," "Millions" and "28 Days Later." "127 Hours" sounds like an intense project, and I'm already interested to see what Boyle ends up doing with it.

Billy Ray is set to direct “How to Rig an Election,” a project he wrote and sold to Fox Searchlight, according to Variety.

The trade says the flick traces GOP operative Allen Raymond’s downfall following a campaign to jam phone lines at Democratic Party headquarters in an effort to swing a 2002 Senate election in New Hampshire.

Fox also acquired Raymond’s memoir “How to Rig an Election: Confessions of a Republican Operative,” hoping to start production on the film next year.

Variety offers more details about Raymond’s tricks: “Raymond enlisted a telemarketer vendor to dump so many automated calls into phone banks at Democratic HQ that outgoing calls were impossible.”

Ray most recently wrote and directed “Breach.” He made his directorial debut in 2003 with “Shattered Glass.”