Real-life survival hero ARON RALSTON has pledged to keep the video messages he shot as he was preparing for death while trapped by a boulder in a Utah canyon crevice away from the public.
The hiking enthusiast had to amputate his own arm to break free from his rock-face prison and his gripping story has been made into a new Danny Boyle movie, entitled 127 Hours, starring James Franco.
Ralston showed his desperate home movie footage to the filmmaker and his star, who recreates their message in the film - but he has no plans to release the real films.
Her says, "I appreciate the interest and recognise the intrigue, just knowing there's real footage that exists. But, at the same time, it was a personal artifact that I made for my friends and family, many of whom have seen it.
"The people I spoke to on the videos have watched it, including my mom and my dad. It was a very emotional experience for my parents to watch it with me. We literally went through an entire box of Kleenex sitting there. You see me just dissolve.
"By the time you're an hour through this footage, six days has passed and I'd lost almost 40 pounds off of a pretty scrawny frame to begin with. I was a human being who's been decimated and turned into a ghost.
"Because of the impact that it had on my mom - she was watching her little boy disintegrate on film - I promised her that I would never share that publicly. This was four months after I'd been rescued, I was home and rehabilitated before she was ready to watch it. It was first and foremost for my loved ones and, in the end, that's where it will stay."