Life of Pi is a novel by Yann Martel which won the coveted ‘Man Booker Prize for Fiction’ in 2002. The book tells the story of Piscine “Pi” Molitor Patel, and deals with religion, spirituality and a lot more besides. In its simplest form it tells how Pi found himself sharing a lifeboat with a tiger, orangutan, zebra, and hyena.
This is a book that’s been sitting on my shelf waiting to be read for five years now. But maybe I can just wait for it to be turned into a movie, with Variety reporting Ang Lee as being in discussions to direct the film based on the book.
Fox 2000 hold the rights to the non-existent movie, and M. Night Shyamalan and Alfonso Cuarón have already spoken about taking charge. Nothing came of either pronouncement. The project was recently taken over by Jean-Pierre Jeunet but his work looks like being scrapped in favor of a new writer taking over and beginning again.
I have a nasty feeling that Life of Pi will be one project doomed to stay forever in development but never actually getting made. Which would be a shame because the plot looks like it could make for an intriguing film if done correctly. Is Ang Lee the man to do that, and take the project into reality? Only time will tell.
