Photo: 20th Century Fox
I haven't read Yan Martel's Booker Prize-winning novel so I don't really have any perspective from which to judge this first picture from Ang Lee's Life of Pi, which was adapted from the story of the same name.
In the image you see Suraj Sharma as the titular character, Piscine Molitor Patel, 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 orangutan, a hyena and, as the picture makes quite clear, 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.
The film co-stars Gerard Depardieu, Adolfo Celi, Irrfan Khan, Adil Hussain and Tobey Maguire as the film's narrator.
Fox has set a December 21 release date for the pic and it is certain to be one people will look out for come awards season, and it will be curious to see how it's received. I know I'm interested in seeing it based solely on the synopsis and a wonder as to how Lee will pull it off.
Here's the second pic, which is decidedly less interesting as it is only Lee on set.
Photo: 20th Century Fox
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It's a fantastic book, you should really read it. The first time you hear the name Richard Parker you think it is a person, untill it becomes clear it's a tiger! Marvellous! Very curious how this book will be translated to the big screen though, doesn't look easy.
SPOILERS. :P Kidding. But really... Now I know Richard's a Tiger. Blast.
Hmmmm I don't know
Fantastic book, and fantastic movie. I'm from the future so I've seen it.
Exceedingly fantastic novel - thrilled to see how the adaptation turns out.
I can't wait to see this. The premise of the book sounds hard to adapt for the big screen but I trust in Ang Lee. Tiger & Dragon, Brokeback Mountain, Hulk... all great movies.
Great book, looking forward to seeing the film
It's the worrisome thought that the film is going to be drenched in CGI to overcome its 'filming difficulties' that puts me off seeing it. Reading the book, the tiger and boat and ocean were 'real' in my mind; that's how I want it to be in the film.
So, you basically want to see a real tiger, hyena and zebra on boat for 90 minutes. Sorry, but I really can't imagine making this film without CGI...
Looks like a Tarsem Singh movie.
Brad, I dont read many books...but this one was phenomenal!
recommended!
Actually, listening to it was the best! It is recorded with an Indian accent which made it even more autobiographical. Listen to it on the treadmIll... It'll feel like you covered an ocean.
How come the 'latest' post on Life of Pi doesn't include the name of Ms Tabu, the versatile actor who plays the mother of Pi?
I'm in the minority then saying that I was hugely disappointed with the book. I think it started out like a wonderful adventure but ended up somewhere I didn't much care. And I have some concerns about the cgi as well. We'll see how this will turn out.
Jim, Is it possible to 'listen' to Life of Pi dialogues? I thought the movie was kept under a wrap!
He is referring to the audio book.