Ang Lee takes over THE LIFE OF PI

By Matt Holmes / June 25, 2011

Ever since it's release, several non-American directors have been obsessed with bringing Yann Martel's 2002 Man Brooker Prize winning novel LIFE OF PI to the big screen but so far, all have failed. M.Night Shyamalan (THE SIXTH SENSE, UNBREAKABLE, THE HAPPENING) tried but then dumped it when he was worried about "audience expectations" that come with his name, i.e. twist endings. Jean-Pierre Jeunet (AMELIE, A VERY LONG ENGAGMENT, ALIEN RESURRECTION) tried it but couldn't get the budget to make the movie he wanted and bailed out. Alfonso Cuaron (GREAT EXPECTATIONS, CHILDREN OF MEN, HARRY POTTER AND THE PRISONER OF AZKABAN) flirted with it but then couldn't figure out how to make the movie into a satisfying two hour drama. Now Variety say the torch has passed to veteran Ang Lee who has entered talks with Fox 2000 to turn this popular modern work of fiction, into a popular modern work of cinema.

Novel revolves around a youth who is the lone survivor of a sunken freighter and winds up sharing a lifeboat with a hyena, an injured zebra, an orangutan and a hungry Bengal tiger.

Lee is on the lookout for a screenwriter, though don't be surprised if he ends up hiring James Schamus who he has collaborated with many times, including the films HULK, LUST CAUTION, RIDE WITH THE DEVIL and THE ICE STORM. I haven't read the novel but of course I'm aware of it's high status in the reading world. Lee is a terrific director, his next movie TAKING WOODSTOCK is one we have been tracking for a while (it opens in August from Focus Features) and this kind of fantasy concept with seemingly few characters is an intriguing one for such a proven "actor's" director.