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Life of Pi
an Ang Lee film
Plot (Spoiler Alert)Pi Patel tells a novelist his story about his life including surviving a ship wreck and being stranded out on sea with a tiger. 
Blaine: Production for “Life of Pi” began in 2002 when 20th Century Fox wanted to buy the rights to the book after producer Gil Netter read it and wanted to develop it into a film. The book’s author, Yann Martel didn’t know how “Life of Pi” could be made into a film because of what it required like a tiger and a sea of water, but he trusted them. They wanted Ang Lee to direct the movie because he brings a lot of emotion into his films and has done big productions before like “Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon” He shows a passion for filmmaking. When they asked Ang to do the film he was already attached to direct the movie “Taking Woodstock”. He told them not to wait for him because he didn’t want to hold them back, but he did inform them that if the project was still available after he was done with the “Woodstock” movie he would be on board. They knew 100% that they wanted Ang so they were very patient and waited for him. It was a whole new movie for Ang to direct with kids, a tiger, a tone of water and shooting it in 3D. The first step they had to take with the project was have a screenplay so they hired David Magee, best known for “Finding Neverland.” Finding Neverland is an emotional film, so they were fortunate to have a screenwriter and a director who can bring emotion into film. David read the book years ago and he too thought it was impossible to be made into a film. He didn’t know how to turn “Life of Pi” into a screenplay at first until Ang told him he too didn’t know how to make it into a film.That made David more comfortable knowing he wasn’t alone. They wanted it to be an adventure story and it needed a survivor story as well and they had help from Steve Gallahan author of "Adrift: 76 Days Lost At Sea” based on his real life experience of being drifted out in sea for two months and had to learn how to live like an aquatic caveman. Two weeks later, Ang Lee and David Magee went to India to all the locations that are in the book to see where they were going to be shooting the film. For the character Pi, Ang Lee wanted an innocent face for the role and it took four to five months to find the right person . Then they found Suraj Sharma. Suraj was bringing his brother to audition, but he was too young. The casting director saw Suraj and told him to try it out. He had never acted before, but when he auditioned he put himself somewhere else and he showed everything they were looking for and that’s how he got the job. Ang Lee was a really great supporter and leader for Suraj and they had a bond through this film. It was a test for Suraj because he had to be physical and he had to perform in water. He didn’t know how to swim and never had seen an ocean before. He could hold his breath for fifteen seconds, but he had to take breath holding exercises.He had to learn how to pull rope underwater and he got so use to swimming that he felt like a fish. There was no need for a stunt double because Suraj did 100% of his own stunts in that wave tank. The wave tank was finished while they were shooting in India. Ang wished it had been already finished before principal photography began so they could test it out and see what it’s capable of. Ang wanted to see how a wave works and study the patterns because it wanted it to look real. Ang was disappointed at first of how the waves looked in the tank, so they added another structure to make the waves look like they would in real life and Ang felt better after that. The biggest challenge was shooting in that tank for two and a half months. It was torture for the crew. Here’s what my dad, Blaine Harrington III, has to say about the cinematography shots on the next page. 1. The first one (the swimming pool) the whole scene is surreal. He is describing how he got his name, named after piscine (French word for swimming pool) and the water is so clear and shooting from below that you see inside the pool and above the surface (people standing on terrace) but it all looks the same. And the guy (the relative?) has this big upper body and great lungs. 2. The night shot of the Indian festival. It’s all lit by candles (supposedly, but aided with CGI), so there are candles floating on the surface of the water, candles surrounding the float and everyone on the shore are holding candles. I also remember you could see a sky full of bright stars. It’s just beautiful lighting and reflections. 3. Third one (very green) an overview of the tea plantation with fog rolling in the valley below. Just a very beautiful scene. 4. The dancing girls. It’s a very beautiful scene where Pi is playing percussion on drums and the girls movements and you can very quickly tell that he is intrigued by the girl in the middle, by her gestures, movements (and I think smile). 5. A beautiful sunset on the water as Pi looks back on India where he does not return and the girl he wants to still be with. 6. Again the CGI was really well done with all of the shots in the boat, the reflection from the sky above (both in the day and at night), the shots of the flying fish, the phosphorus tide at night, the whale jumping up, etc. Blaine: My rating on “Life of Pi” is five out of five stars. Music by Mychael Danna Life of Pi Cinematography Shots on Page 2 |