A young man who survives a disaster at sea is hurtled into an epic journey of adventure and discovery. While cast away, he forms an unexpected connection with another survivor: a fearsome Bengal tiger.
Life of Pi (2012) Online
In Canada, a writer visits the Indian storyteller Pi Patel and asks him to tell his life story. Pi tells the story of his childhood in Pondicherry, India, and the origin of his nickname. One day, his father, a zoo owner, explains that the municipality is no longer supporting the zoo and he has hence decided to move to Canada, where the animals the family owns would also be sold. They board on a Japanese cargo ship with the animals and out of the blue, there is a storm, followed by a shipwrecking. Pi survives in a lifeboat with a zebra, an orangutan, a hyena and a male Bengal tiger nicknamed Richard Parker. They are adrift in the Pacific Ocean, with aggressive hyena and Richard Parker getting hungry. Pi needs to find a way to survive.
| Cast overview, first billed only: | |||
 | Suraj Sharma | - | Pi Patel |
 | Irrfan Khan | - | Adult Pi Patel |
 | Ayush Tandon | - | Pi Patel (11-12 Years) |
| Gautam Belur | - | Pi Patel (5 Years) |
 | Adil Hussain | - | Santosh Patel |
 | Tabu | - | Gita Patel |
| Ayaan Khan | - | Ravi Patel (7 Years) |
| Mohd. Abbas Khaleeli | - | Ravi Patel (13-14 Years) |
| Vibish Sivakumar | - | Ravi Patel (18-19 Years) |
 | Rafe Spall | - | Writer |
 | Gérard Depardieu | - | Cook |
 | James Saito | - | Older Insurance Investigator |
 | Jun Naito | - | Younger Insurance Investigator |
 | Andrea Di Stefano | - | Priest |
 | Shravanthi Sainath | - | Anandi |
Tobey Maguire was originally cast as the Writer. Ang Lee thought Maguire was too famous for such a small role, and would have been distracting.
Suraj Sharma was never in the boat with a live tiger. Most of the tiger shots were very high-tech CGI. Only a few scenes, like the tiger swimming in the water, included a real tiger.
Ang Lee hired Steven Callahan as a "nautical consultant." In 1982, Callahan survived 76 days adrift on a rubber lifeboat in the Atlantic after his sailboat sank.
The name Richard Parker has previously been associated with shipwrecks. 1) In the Edgar Allan Poe novel "The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket", published in 1838, Richard Parker is a member of a group of shipwrecked sailors who resort to cannibalism. 2) In 1884, a ship called Mignorette sank in the ocean. Four people survived, including a cabin boy named Richard Parker, who was subsequently killed and eaten by the other three survivors.
Pi is on the lifeboat for 227 days. A good approximation for the number pi is 22/7.
Suraj Sharma never intended to audition for the film. He went to a casting call to support his brother, and beat out more than 3,000 hopefuls for the lead role.
The shot from overhead of Pi sleeping on the tarp, with Richard curled up in the boat and the fish swimming underneath them, replicates the best known cover of the book that the film is based on.
First movie in 7 years to receive the Oscar for Best Director without winning the Oscar for Best Motion Picture. The previous movie was Brokebacki mägi (2005), also directed by Ang Lee.
The first film not rated PG-13 or R by the MPAA to win the Oscar for Best Director since Minu Aafrika (1985).
The Vfx studio "Rhythm & Hues" won an Academy Award for this film. This was two weeks after they declared bankruptcy. The main reason was, that there were many substance changes without paying for the extra work. Ang Lee did not even mention the Vfx-team at the Oscars. Most of the work in this film was done by this team. There is also a short documentation about this, named Life After Pi (2014).
The Piscine Molitor was located in Paris, next to Parc Bois de Boulogne, between Stade Roland Garros and Parc des Princes. It opened in 1929, closed in 1989, and was classified as a French historical monument on March 27, 1990. In 2007 a renovation project was initiated, and a luxury hotel complex with the original swimming pools opened on May 19th, 2014.
Aspect ratio changes in two scenes. There is 2:35:1 for the flying fish scene and 4:3 for when Pi and Richard lay on the boat and a big glowing fish passes underneath. Aspect ratio shift is something the director always wanted to do since film school and did it in this movie.
- The 2.35:1 aspect ratio was chosen to enhance the visual depth between the flying fish and the ocean. As Ang Lee said, "Scope was the only way to see this flying fish scene, and with the black areas at the bottom of the frame, I could pull fish out of there."
- 4:3 was used as a homage to the cover of the book. It's the exact image but with a whale shark added.
Suraj Sharma only went to the audition for the part to support his brother. Originally, he didn't want to go because it would mean waiting for hours. His brother bribed him to go with him by saying he would buy Suraj a Subway sandwich afterwards. Suraj then agreed, and ended up getting the part after his brother's manager suggested it.
The Japanese cargo ship's name, Tsimtsum, is a Hebrew word used by 16th-century Kabbalist Isaac Luria to denote God's "contraction" of Himself from the world at Creation. In the novel, the adult Pi mentions doing a college thesis on Luria's theories about creation. In the movie, he mentions teaching a course on Kabbalah.
The Japanese insurance report, seen briefly while the "Writer" glances at the report folder and newspaper clipping, indicates a report number "250663", 25 June 1963 is the birth-date of Yann Martel, the author of the 2001 novel "Life of Pi".
As the Writer browses through the insurance report, one can see on the third page "2. No major weather disturbance reported that day in quadrant. 3. Survivor's assessment of weather impressionistic and unreliable. At most, weather a contributing factor. Cause was perhaps internal to ship."
Pi is seen reading "The Mysterious Island" (sequel to "20,000 Leagues Under the Sea") by Jules Verne, a Fyodor Dostoevsky collection and "L'Étranger" by Albert Camus.
Author Yann Martel said he was inspired by a book review of Brazilian author Moacyr Scliar's 1981 novella Max and the Cats, about a Jewish-German refugee who crossed the Atlantic Ocean while sharing his boat with a jaguar.
Since the rights were optioned in 2002, several directors have been attached, including M. Night Shyamalan, Alfonso Cuarón, and Jean-Pierre Jeunet.
One of two 2012 movies featuring Irrfan Khan that has a character named "Richard Parker," whose name is spoken by Khan's character. The other is Imeline Ämblikmees (2012).
Pi removes a white cord tied around his right wrist and ties around a tree root in his first evening on the floating island (at 1:37:52). Anandi had tied red cord around his right wrist (at 31:06) and it was still red as he sat on the raft writing an inventory of his supplies in the guidebook from the lifeboat (at 1:09:45). As the film progresses, it visibly loses its red colour and is white by the time of the island scene.
Pii elu (2012) became the first family film to win the Academy Award for Best Director (Ang Lee) since Carol Reed for Oliver! (1968) at the 41st Academy Awards in 1969, though others have been nominated: Norman Jewison for Fiddler on the Roof (1971), George Lucas for Star wars: Osa IV - Uus lootus (1977), Steven Spielberg for Indiana Jones kadunud laeka jälil (1981) and E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982), and Martin Scorsese for Hugo Cabret' leiutis (2011).
The only Best Picture Oscar nominee that year to be also nominated for Best Visual Effects.
In the novel, it is not Pi's father that says "Religion is Darkness", it is a teacher who survived polio.
The only Best Picture Oscar nominee that year not to be nominated in any of the acting categories.
Tabu and Irrfan Khan previously played husband and wife in The Namesake (2006).
Included among the "1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die", edited by Steven Schneider.
Pi did a thesis on a Kabbalist called Luria. The ship that goes down, the Tzim Tzum, is named after a Kabbalistic term that means "The Concentration".
American Humane Association monitored the animal action. No animals were harmed. ® (AHAD 03384)
Pi does not write out Pi in full in the book, he just gives the traditional 3.14
Movie is shot at Munnar Tea plantations, Kerala
Italian censorship visa # 106870 delivered on 14-12-2012.
Towards the end of the story, Pi mentions that the carnivorous island was never seen again, and it creates an element of doubt about the version of the story with the tiger. In the beginning of the movie, when Pi tells the writer about Lord Vishnu, he says, "Vishnu sleeps on the shore-less cosmic ocean, and we are the stuff of his dreams." The carnivorous island had the shape of Vishnu lying on the ocean.
Several shots include the profile view of a supine Vishnu (the sleeping Hindu God seen in the barge). He appears in the distant hills when Pi is on holiday and visits the church to drink the holy water. He appears in clouds on a dark night at sea. He is in the shape of the Marianas Trench on the oceanic map. He is also the carnivorous island in profile.
Adult Pi's daughter is named Adita. His son is named Ravi, after his older brother.
When Pi is drinking the holy water in the church, the priest offers him a glass of water saying "You must be thirsty". This could also be referring to the tiger's original name which was "Thirsty".
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