Monday, November 1, 2010

Ang Lee Taking on Life of Pi. Casts Unknown in the lead!


Ang Lee, director of Brokeback Mountain (2005) is at the helm of the film adaptation of Life Of Pi, one of the greatest books I've read in recent years. You most definitely absolutely fo sheezie should read this one before you see the film.

Based on the best-selling novel by Yann Martel, is a magical adventure story centering on Pi Patel, the precocious son of a zookeeper. Dwellers in Pondicherry, India, the family decides to move to Canada, hitching a ride on a huge freighter. After a shipwreck, Pi is found adrift in the Pacific Ocean on a 26-foot lifeboat with a zebra, a hyena, an orangutan and a 450-pound Bengal tiger named Richard Parker, all fighting for survival. [IMDB]

Ok, ok I know it sounds bizarre, but give it a chance. It's so original and you just can' t miss it.

Oh, and the rumours are also circulating that this one will be in 3D. That might also seem stupid, but I read somewhere that Ang Lee was talking about 3D and saying how it would give new visual depth to the ocean, which is a primary character in this story. I think it could work. It's not always about explosions, people.

I know what you're thinking. A completely Indian-centric film? Where's M. Night Shyamalan? Well he DID consider taking charge of this project at one point, but because of the book's semi-surprise-twist ending, he had to back out. Yeah, M. Night, you wouldn't want to do that formula to death or anything. *shifty eyes*

Lee has officially cast unknown Indian actor Suraj Sharma in the lead role of Pi. Love it. I'd rather see an unknown play a character I loved in a book than some giant celeb A-list person. It would be distracting. Sorry, Dev Patel. You're too old to play Pi.


Shooting is taking place in Thailand, among other places, and  Pi comes to the big screen sometime in 2012. I will be first in line to see this amazing fantastical tale come to life.

Did you read the book?


3 comments:

VEG said...

Holy crap, I enjoy M. Night movies more than most people but even I wouldn't want him NEAR "Life of Pi" In fact, I can't figure out how ANYONE could film that book. But I said that about a bunch of other stuff and they managed so...

I love "Life of Pi". It's a great read. I actually just read it for the second time recently. I'm Richard Parker's biggest fan. :)

The Masked Critic said...

In high school I had to do a book report and choose to do it on the Life of Pi book.

Part of the book report involved writing a letter to one of the secondary characters; I choose to write to the Tiger.

When I got the book report back, it came with a "Did you even read the whole book?"

I did, and enjoyed it very much; it was one of the best well written books that I have ever read.

I still stand by my decision that the tiger is indeed a character.

Angie said...

Veg, I totally agree! I wanna read it again before the movie comes out.

And Masked Critic - Richard is totally a character. Your teacher was a moron. There, I said it.