LIFE OF PI Is Afloat: Ang Lee Shooting In Native 3D

According to USAToday, Director Ang Lee is set to begin adapting Yann Martel's LIFE OF PI
and has in fact found his leading man and a budget from Fox to shoot the movie in stereoscopic 3D. The official press release is here.

Lee says that Suraj Sharma will play Pi Patel who is stranded in a lifeboat with a Bengal tiger, zebra, hyena and orangutan. Sharma beat out an amazing 3000 other teen boys for the coveted role. "He read one complex scene, and by the end he was crying," Lee says. "We all were."

The storyline is all about Piscine Molitor "Pi" Patel, an Indian boy from Pondicherry, explores issues of spirituality and practicality from an early age. He survives 227 days after a shipwreck, while stranded on a boat in the Pacific Ocean with the aforementioned creatures.

Regarding budget, Lee approached Fox with a need for well over $50m and got it. "It's expensive to shoot in 3-D," Lee says. "I know it's a great burden on me, but the story kept haunting me, and 3-D was the way for me to crack the book."

I love Lee's commitment to using 3D for the project! "The ocean is perfect for 3-D. I think it will change the way people experience the sea."

Fox has set LIFE OF PI's release date for 2012.

Can't wait to see this on the big screen! Anyone read the book
yet??