Nikki Finke is reporting Ang Lee will direct a film adaptation of Yann Martel's Man Booker Prize winning novel "Life Of Pi" for Fox 2000, and her assumed reasoning sounds a bit stupid.

"Since Slumdog Millionaire is going to win the Best Picture Oscar, it makes sense that Hollywood is mining all the Indian stories it has at its studios," Finke says. Does anyone actually believe the Indian setting for Slumdog is the reason for its success? Last I checked people were hailing the story, the music and just about everything else with the fact it had a Bollywood-vibe to it last, if at all. I could be wrong, but I don't see any reason why Hollywood would want to "mine their Indian stories" unless they were quality products, which "Life of Pi" sounds like it is.

"Life of Pi" is set in Pondicherry, India and centers on Piscine Molitor Patel — known as Pi — a well-to-do zookeeper's son who leads a rich life acquiring a broad knowledge of not only the great religious texts but of all literature, and has a great curiosity about how the world works. However, political changes in India cause the Patel family to choose to move to Canada where Pi ultimately finds himself adrift in a lifeboat with a zebra, an orang-utan, a hyena, and a 450-pound Royal Bengal tiger named Richard Parker. The rest of the story chronicles Pi's 227-day voyage across the Pacific, and the powerful story of faith and survival at the heart of Life of Pi.

Ang Lee's upcoming film, Taking Woodstock is set to premiere at Cannes before its August release in the States and he is also attached to A Little Game, the adaptation of Gérald Sibleyras and Jean Dell's stage play. There is no word on what will be Lee's actual next film.

Related post categories: Coming Up Next : Ang Lee

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