Ang Lee's big-screen adaptation of Life of Pi has just snagged its first big name cast member in Tobey Maguire. The actor has signed on to play a reporter in the story of an Indian boy that takes an epic journey at sea with an orangutan, a tiger, and a hyena. It's a small role for Maguire, but should help generate buzz for the film, which is already drawing attention from fans of the best-selling novel.
Speaking of the Oscars, the 2006 Best Director winner for Brokeback Mountain, Ang Lee, is setting up his next big project: An adaptation of the bestselling novel Life of Pi. After releasing the intense Lust, Caution in 2007, Lee went on to direct a film adaptation of the memoir Taking Woodstock, which will be released in August. Now, he's chugging right along with yet another adaptation. Here's more:
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.
The project has been through several incarnations, first with scribe Dean Georgaris, then M. Night Shyamalan. Lee will supervise a new script.
Brokeback Mountain was adapted from a short story and I was deeply impressed with the way the story visually leaped from page to screen under Lee's direction. There isn't even any dialogue for a good first chunk of the movie as the this cowboy universe is established scenically before our eyes. I have a feeling he'll do a good job with Life of Pi.
Have you read this book? What do you think of this director-project pairing?
