In Life of Pi, Piscine “Pi” Molitor Patel (newcomer Suraj Sharma) is an Indian teenager whose father runs a zoo. Although Pi loves his life in India, tough times force his parents to sell the zoo and move overseas. The family and all of their animals are on a freighter when a horrific storm results in a tragic shipwreck. Against all odds, Pi manages to escape from the sinking ship and get into a life boat. And that, says an older Pi who serves as the film’s narrator, is when Pi’s “greatest journey began.”
Losing your entire family and being the lone human survivor of a shipwreck would be frightening enough. But, as Pi soon discovered, this was not the only thing that he had to confront. As it turns out, Pi was not the only one who managed to make it to the lifeboat: a Bengal tiger named Richard Parker had made it to this boat as well, and the two were now adrift at sea together. As he is hurtled into an epic journey of adventure and discovery, Pi forms an amazing and unexpected connection with this fearsome wild animal.
In filming Life of Pi, director Ang Lee made the most of the 3D medium. Although Lee used a real tiger in some scenes, a completely digital tiger appears in all of the more complicated sequences – requiring a perfect match between real and digital beast.
The screenplay for Life of Pi was written by David Magee, based on the award-winning 2001 novel of the same name by Yann Martel. The drama also features Irffan Khan, Gerard Depardieu, Adil Hussain and Rafe Spall. Life of Pi, which is rated PG for emotional thematic content throughout and some scary action sequences and peril, is scheduled for release by 20th Century Fox in both 2D and 3D on November 21, 2012.
Rebecca Wang Entertainment 