Ang Lee believes destiny played an important role in getting him to direct the movie, which changed hands with many directors before landing Lee.
Mumbai:
Ang Lee, who spent almost four yearstranslating Yann Martel's India-set fantasy adventure Life ofPi to the screen, feels a sense of belonging to Pi's journeyand is ready to go around the world to introduce the movie.
"There is nothing more important to me than this movieright now. I hope it works. I will go around the world tointroduce Pi. I am looking forward to how the audience playthe movie in their head. I don't have a control over it but Ihope they like it," said the mild-mannered director in aninterview.
The Oscar-winning filmmaker, who is behind genre-defyingmovies like Sense and Sensibility, Crouching Tiger HiddenDragon, Hulk and Brokeback Mountain, believes destinyplayed an important role in getting him to direct the movie,which changed hands with many directors before landing Lee.
The project has been in the making for almost a decadeand directors like M Night Shyamalan, Alfonso Cuaron AND JeanPierre Jeunet were involved with it briefly. Finally, Foxapproached Lee in February 2009.
"I read the book when it first came out and four yearsago, Fox Star Studios approached me to direct it. Iimmediately got hooked and knew that I was undertaking a hugeresponsibility," said Lee, who is on a promotional visit here.
Talking about his predecessors, Lee says, "They backedoff for different reasons and some never got involved. I don'tknow what was the story. There was one director who even spenttwo years animating few things but they fall apart. It finallycame to me. I think every movie has its own fate.
"When I started doing the movie I felt like I had a senseof belonging. I started longing to be a part of it and themovie became mine. I don't look at the previous history or thefuture."
The trailers of the film show some stunning images ofIndia and the cultural aspects of Pondicherry, the setting ofthe story. Lee worked hard to get the cultural aspects right.
"I came here and I did my research, only then I startedto think about structuring the story. I started puttingpictures in my head about the Indian part in the film. We shotin Pondicherry, Munnar for the Indian segment and spent arounda year to improve visualisation and computer animation for theocean part," he says.
The most difficult decision for Lee probably was to shootthe movie in 3D. It was a risk since most of the film is setin the ocean. The cost went up, making the studio jittery.
"I thought it was impossible to shoot in water in 3D...it looked impossible and was expensive. Filmmaking is aboutnew media. It is a new illusion so I started thinking aboutthat. Later, I realized 3D did wonders with water. You reallyfeel like you are there with Pi in the ocean," Lee says.
The Taiwanese-born American director, 58, built a studioin his country for the water scenes. "We had to built a wavetank to simulate open ocean."
Lee recalls how it almost did not get made when he optedfor 3D technology."The studio thought it was very expensive. They said itis not going to happen. But for me, if I start anything and Idon't finish, it kills me. So once I got hooked I did not wantto hear no," he says.
Lee also decided to forgo big names from Hollywood topick up an international cast. He chose a 17-year-old newcomerSuraj Sharma to play the lead role of Pi and Indian actorsTabu, Irrfan Khan and Adil Hussain for other key characters. The only big name Spider-Man actor Tobey Maguire'sscenes were chopped off and Lee reshot them with Rafe Spall.
Though he has shot some portions of the film in India,Lee has not followed Indian cinema."I don't watch many Indian movies but I remember some 10to 15 years back I saw Sholay."
The film releases in India on November 23.
"There is nothing more important to me than this movieright now. I hope it works. I will go around the world tointroduce Pi. I am looking forward to how the audience playthe movie in their head. I don't have a control over it but Ihope they like it," said the mild-mannered director in aninterview.
The Oscar-winning filmmaker, who is behind genre-defyingmovies like Sense and Sensibility, Crouching Tiger HiddenDragon, Hulk and Brokeback Mountain, believes destinyplayed an important role in getting him to direct the movie,which changed hands with many directors before landing Lee.
The project has been in the making for almost a decadeand directors like M Night Shyamalan, Alfonso Cuaron AND JeanPierre Jeunet were involved with it briefly. Finally, Foxapproached Lee in February 2009.
"I read the book when it first came out and four yearsago, Fox Star Studios approached me to direct it. Iimmediately got hooked and knew that I was undertaking a hugeresponsibility," said Lee, who is on a promotional visit here.
Talking about his predecessors, Lee says, "They backedoff for different reasons and some never got involved. I don'tknow what was the story. There was one director who even spenttwo years animating few things but they fall apart. It finallycame to me. I think every movie has its own fate.
"When I started doing the movie I felt like I had a senseof belonging. I started longing to be a part of it and themovie became mine. I don't look at the previous history or thefuture."
The trailers of the film show some stunning images ofIndia and the cultural aspects of Pondicherry, the setting ofthe story. Lee worked hard to get the cultural aspects right.
"I came here and I did my research, only then I startedto think about structuring the story. I started puttingpictures in my head about the Indian part in the film. We shotin Pondicherry, Munnar for the Indian segment and spent arounda year to improve visualisation and computer animation for theocean part," he says.
The most difficult decision for Lee probably was to shootthe movie in 3D. It was a risk since most of the film is setin the ocean. The cost went up, making the studio jittery.
"I thought it was impossible to shoot in water in 3D...it looked impossible and was expensive. Filmmaking is aboutnew media. It is a new illusion so I started thinking aboutthat. Later, I realized 3D did wonders with water. You reallyfeel like you are there with Pi in the ocean," Lee says.
The Taiwanese-born American director, 58, built a studioin his country for the water scenes. "We had to built a wavetank to simulate open ocean."
Lee recalls how it almost did not get made when he optedfor 3D technology."The studio thought it was very expensive. They said itis not going to happen. But for me, if I start anything and Idon't finish, it kills me. So once I got hooked I did not wantto hear no," he says.
Lee also decided to forgo big names from Hollywood topick up an international cast. He chose a 17-year-old newcomerSuraj Sharma to play the lead role of Pi and Indian actorsTabu, Irrfan Khan and Adil Hussain for other key characters. The only big name Spider-Man actor Tobey Maguire'sscenes were chopped off and Lee reshot them with Rafe Spall.
Though he has shot some portions of the film in India,Lee has not followed Indian cinema."I don't watch many Indian movies but I remember some 10to 15 years back I saw Sholay."
The film releases in India on November 23.
