Ang Lee's willingness to take on challenging projects others have proven incapable of completing made him the perfect choice to direct Life of Pi, Yann Matel's rather unorthodox story about the son of zookeeper who is the only member of his family to survive the sinking of their ship. Pi is left on a small lifeboat along with various zoo animals, including a giantic Bengal tiger named Richard Parker, which he must appease to keep from being eaten. Told you it was weird, but the book is great, and deals with issues of faith and spirituality in an unconventional way. It's more of a parable, really, which also makes it more difficult to adapt. Many have tried and failed before Lee came along, including M. Night Shyamalan and Alfonso Cuaron.
The first image from the film has been released, and you'd be hard pressed to believe that tiger is pure CGI. It looks ready to bite the legs off newcomer Suraj Sharma at the drop of a hat, and if the rest of the film looks this good we're going to be in for a treat. The rest of the cast features Tobey Maguire, Gerard Depardieu, and The Namesake's Irrfan Khan and Tabu.
What worries me is that The Life of Pi may get lost in the December crush as it'll do battle with Django Unchained, This is Forty, World War Z, The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, Tom Cruise's One Shot, and The Great Gatsby. Can't they push it back a month? [TheFilmStage]
