Let's Talk Life of Pi with Ang Lee

Let's Talk Life of Pi with Ang Lee

Life of Pi is one of the hottest films out at the moment, and such are the glowing reviews from the critics, it's even being talked up as a possible Oscar contender, taking on the strong favourite, Lincoln, directed by Steven Spielberg. Ang Lee caught up with USA Today to talk about the huge task of filming the 'unfilmable' book.

They say 'unfilmable,' but with today's technology, nothing can really labelled as such, although that's not to say bringing such a popular book to life wasn't a monolithic task. "Sometimes we go through things in life that are equivalent to that journey," Lee says, envying Suraj Sharma's character. "You wish the test could be as simple as drifting across the ocean with a Bengal tiger. Sometimes things feel harder. Such as making this movie." One of the most prominent aspects of the film noted by the critics in their near unanimous praise, is the excellent work in making the Bengal tiger so life like. "It's still handcraft. There's no button to push. There's not a program to make an animal look real," Lee explained. "Every frame is a labor of love. Some shots took three months, some six months."

It seems as though Life of Pi was destined to be a success, given the amount of strife that went into making it. The film's fledgling star only came to the audition because his brother promised a free lunch, and he nearly faced expulsion from his university while on promoting duties; a fate he avoided by handing in eight essays at once. Life of Pi hit cinemas on Nov. 21st, and comes to the U.K in just under a months time, on Dec. 20th.