First Photo from Ang Lee's LIFE OF PI
Here is the first photo from Ang Lee's adaptation of Yann Martel's Life of Pi. The bestselling novel was first released in 2001 and won the Man Booker Prize. Suraj Sharma beat out over 3,000 actors for the lead role. The supporting cast includes Irrfan Khan as the grown-up Pi, Adil Hussain and Tabu as Pi’s parents, Gérard Depardieu as “The Chef,” and Tobey Maguire as a journalist named — surprise — Yann Martel.
Synopsis:
Pi Patel is an unusual boy. The son of a zookeeper, he has an encyclopedic knowledge of animal behavior, a fervent love of stories, and practices not only his native Hinduism, but also Christianity and Islam. When Pi is sixteen, his family emigrates from India to North America aboard a Japanese cargo ship, along with their zoo animals bound for new homes.
The ship sinks. Pi finds himself alone in a lifeboat, his only companions a hyena, an orangutan, a wounded zebra, and Richard Parker, a 450-pound Bengal tiger. Soon the tiger has dispatched all but Pi, whose fear, knowledge, and cunning allow him to coexist with Richard Parker for 227 days lost at sea. When they finally reach the coast of Mexico, Richard Parker flees to the jungle, never to be seen again. The Japanese authorities who interrogate Pi refuse to believe his story and press him to tell them “the truth.” After hours of coercion, Pi tells a second story, a story much less fantastical, much more conventional-but is it more true?
Life of Pi arrives in theaters on December 21. If the rest of the film has this visual style, then I am interested in seeing this on the big screen. I am sure that this will have audiences flocking to theaters in droves over the holidays.
Have you read the book, and are you looking forward to seeing this in theaters?