- Cast: Gérard Depardieu, Irrfan Khan, Rafe Spall, Suraj Sharma, Tabu, Adil Hussain, Shravanthi Sainath, Andrea Di Stefano, Ayush Tandon, Ayan Khan, Vibish Sivakumar, Gautam Belur
- Director: Ang Lee
- Writers: David Magee, Yann Martel
- Producers: Ang Lee, Gil Netter, David Womark
- Co Producer: David Lee
- Associate Producers: Kevin Richard Buxbaum, William M. Connor, Michael J. Malone, Pravesh Sahni
- Executive Producer: Dean Georgaris
- Art Direction: Dan Webster
- Casting: Avy Kaufman
- Costume Design: Arjun Bhasin
- D.O.P.: Claduio Miranda
- Editor: Tim Squyres
- Makeup: Kristin Chalmers
- Music: Mychael Danna
- Production Design: David Gropman
- Set Decoration: Anna Pinnock
Storyline
Based on the best-selling novel by Yann Martel, is a magical adventure story centering on Pi Patel, the precocious son of a zookeeper. Dwellers in Pondicherry, India, the family decides to move to Canada, hitching a ride on a huge freighter. After a shipwreck, Pi finds himself adrift in the Pacific Ocean on a 26-foot lifeboat with a zebra, a hyena, an orangutan and a 450-pound Bengal tiger named Richard Parker, all fighting for survival.
Basic Information
- Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1
- Filming Locations: Munar, India; Pondicherry, India; Taichung, Taiwan
- MPAA Warning: Emotional thematic content throughout, and some scary action sequences and peril
- Production Budget: $70 million
- Production Companies: Rhythm and Hues, Fox 2000 Pictures
- Production Schedule: 3 January 2011 – March 2011
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Trivia
2012 Guide Analysis: "Something of a wild card during next year's award season is "Brokeback Mountain" director Ang Lee's adaptation of Yann Martel's multi-award winning 2001 novel. The story follows a young boy who survives a freighter sinking and is stuck in a lifeboat with a hyena, a zebra, an orangutan, and a Bengal tiger.
It's a tricky tale though due to its heavy multi-religion themes, use of allegory, the use of various wild animals as characters, and some quite dark moments in a warm and wry adventure tone. Throw in the mostly contained lifeboat setting and Fox's desire to release the film in regular and IMAX 3D and you have a challenge for even the most adept filmmaker.
"Finding Neverland" scribe David Magee adapted the script for the project which originally had the likes M. Night Shyamalan, Alfonso Cuarón and Jean-Pierre Jeunet attached to direct. With Lee they've got a classy sensibility, but the project itself is something of a marketing nightmare outside of the pre-existing fanbase of the book. Could be one of the year's best and boldest films, or a wasted opportunity of the worst kind - there's very little middle ground here."
