A scene from Life of Pi [Photo: Li Qi/Global Times]
Despite some critical reviews after its premier at the New York Film Festival a month ago, Life of Pi by American Chinese director Ang Lee is still exciting movie fans in China.
Set to screen in the Chinese mainland on November 22, Life of Pi is adapted from a 2001 adventure novel of the same name. The book, by Canadian novelist Yann Martel, won the Man Booker Prize for Fiction in 2002.
Indian boy Pi, or Piscine Molitor Patel, is the story's protagonist. On the way to Canada with his family, the freighter they are on sinks in a storm, leaving him alone on a lifeboat, together with a Bengal tiger. For over 200 days, he drifts in the Pacific Ocean, while trying to stay alive with the tiger.
In a press conference last Friday in Beijing Lee said, "There is an implicate rule in our movie industry - one should never touch kids, animals, and especially water." But not only does Lee tackle all three in Life of Pi, he adds the challenge of filming in 3D, a first for the Oscar-winning director.
From print to film
The first time Lee read Martel's book, he loved it and recommended it to his wife and children. It was not until about four years ago, when 20th Century Fox found Lee, that he began to think about turning it into a film.
Yet, just as Martel said weeks ago, it was difficult to translate the contents of the story to the screen.
For example, "You can't put a tiger in a boat with an actor. Even if you get it to sit there, you couldn't get it to do some of the things that happen in the novel," the best seller's author told The Montreal Gazette, according to the paper's online report in late October.
And also, as Martel told The Hollywood Reporter, a novel is often dense, making it hard to fit all the contents into a few hours of film.
Lee said, though some of the scenes of the tiger are computer generated, they used four tigers for certain scenes and had a good animal trainer. By observing the real tigers, the crew studied the moods, hair and movement of tigers, which helped them a lot in creating a lifelike image through computers.
The story in the film has undergone changes from the original. "The biggest difference between a novel and a film is that people read a book but watch a film. [We can read a book about] doing operations on human brain, but it is difficult for people to watch such a scene," Lee said. Therefore, some of the bloody scenes in the book have been toned down.
Other scenes are completely new. "I did some research, like what one might encounter at sea and what kind of beautiful sights there might be," Lee said. So he included several scenes such as flying fish jumping up out of the water and a night scene with fluorescent fish that can be seen swimming under the surface.
3D work
Though Christopher Nolan, director of the Batman franchise, refused to follow the 3D trend in The Dark Knight Rises, Lee found 3D a greater help in his Life of Pi.
Lee said he was looking for a film that audiences could really engage themselves in, and he found 3D was a solution to that. "I shot in a 3D mindset… the story may still be a good one [if in 2D]… but we may only have 50 or 60 percent of a feeling of reality."
Though he acknowledged it had been used as a stunt before, Lee regards 3D technology more as a new media, a tool for art, and a way to create deepness in 2D works.
"You need more meticulous performance [in a 3D film]," he said, using an example of the young actor Suraj Sharma, who stars as Pi. He said some performances look good but became exaggerated on a 3D screen.
"I have a feeling that the future of 3D… will be more like a real stage," Lee said. "The use of lights might also be changed… [and production] might be simplified and cheaper."
Yet he said, "We are still at a transitional period. While filmmakers are practicing and digging up [new things] from the technology, audiences are accepting it gradually."
Art and business
How to strike for a coexistence of the commercial and artist in Life of Pi was another difficulty in making the film, according to Lee.
As Lee said last week, the film is promoted as a blockbuster for all audiences, which, therefore, common audiences are looking for it to be easy to understand and with grand views.
However, as the original book contains philosophical ideas and has a big name around the world, the film cannot be superficial, but must also make people think. "Often, I found there was no solution to it," Lee said, adding that once he wanted to make it completely into an art film.
But Lee still hopes his film can be both accepted by common audiences, and yet raise deep discussions. "I think that is the real meaning of a film. When audiences watch a film, they think. And that is the most wonderful thing."
As for the rumors that Life of Pi might catch another Oscar for Lee after Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon and Brokeback Mountain, Lee said he is glad to hear the buzz.