while PI Patel might have spent 227 days trapped on a lifeboat with a Bengal
tiger executive Elizabeth dabbler and producer gillnetter spent 11 years
bringing the impossible story from page to screen Life of Pi was published on
September 11th 2001 perhaps the worst day to have a book launch nevertheless
it sold over 10 million copies and one author Yan Martel the prestigious Man
Booker Prize yet it was deemed an impossible movie to make and the 11
years in between publishing and the release of the movie directed by Angley
is a story about the complexity of adaptation Life of Pi is arguably my
favorite book I remember reading it as a teenager and feeling like I had a choice
in what to think not often a case for a high school student I remember my
teacher asking me which story do you think was real the one with the animals
I responded I love that book because it wasn't harnessed by a movie my
imagination wasn't skewed it would not have been my favorite book if I saw the
movie first yet it might have became my favorite movie this is the first in a
series about adaptations the story of how a book becomes a movie it's not
about which is better it's about how such a feat is even possible in 1990 ya
Martell read a review by John Updike for a Portuguese book that has recently been
translated into English this book was called Max and the cats by Moe sails
gili air it was a negative review and Martell never read that book still the
premise stayed with him a boy trapped on a boat with a man-eating Jaguar reeling
from the disappointing reception of a first two published books Martel and the
myths of quitting a work-in-progress about Portugal travelled to India for
inspiration this was 1996 five years before Life of
Pi was published it was during this trip that it all came together
by 2002 yah Martel had become a household name
winning one of the biggest prizes and literature will do that in addition Life
of Pi spent 61 weeks on the New York Times bestsellers list while Martel
received criticism for not acknowledging sue Claire eventually all that faded
when he stated it could not be plagiarism of any form if he never read
Sinclair's book when put side by side most critics failed to see many
similarities between the two structurally and thematically in the
same year at the height of life of PI's popularity 20th Century Fox Pictures
executive Elisabeth Gabler was on maternity leave where she saw the novel
everywhere all the other studios had passed on Life of Pi so when producer
gillnetter called her and pitched the project she recognized the complexity of
the story it takes place predominantly on the Pacific Ocean it's highly
spiritual it's not a superhero sequel and it's not easily summed up these were
all concerns still dabbler saw a lot of potential and story so she made the deal
for the film rights with Yann Martel a little over a year after the novel hit
the shelves when author options their story to a production company it is not
always clear how much they will make they may make a deal for as little as
nothing with a promise of a percentage of the budget if it ever gets funding or
they may get an upfront payment for the film rights all at once
perhaps $500,000 it's hard to predict how much exactly Martel made from
optioning the rights for Life of Pi a one may wonder if the lengthy duration
it took to make the film and the trouble it will soon have with the budget work
for or against him on it in February of 2003 dabbler had
officially acquired the rights to Life of Pi and pre-production began
screenwriter Dean George Daris known from Manchurian Candidate tristan and
isolde and Laura Croft Tomb Raider the Cradle of Life was hired to write the
script M night Shyamalan yes M night was the
first to partner with the project as the director in 2004 he had just finished
with his movie The Village and Life of Pi was tempting after all
Shyamalan grew up in the very city the character PI did Pondicherry however he
would back out of the project worried that the twist ending and Life of Pi
would be affected if he was to direct it people will be anticipating the twist
the moment it began that would hurt the story and so Shyamalan would sacrifice
himself and begin work on his next movie lady in the water the project went in
and out of limbo at this point as of March of 2005 Alfonso chorion was
rumoured to have signed on to direct it but stepped down to work on Children of
Men in October of the same year jean-pierre janay director of Amelie was
hired by 20th Century Fox to take on the job janay jumped on the opportunity
after backing out of Harry Potter and the order of the Phoenix not long before
and began working on the screenplay with his partner from Amelie Gilliam laronne
things were working great janay had a script that the studio liked
he built miniatures of the lifeboat and he even started location scouting in
India then a major problem materialized the
budget the project would cause an excess of 85 million dollars according to
invest Opia the average cost of a major studio movie in 2007 was 65 million
dollars the mission was to get the budget to sixty million dollars however
that simply wasn't gonna happen with an A in frustration the heads of Fox told
them to produce the movie himself for two years
janay had been working on Life of Pi suddenly the movie was at a standstill
as two producers sought new solutions then time ran out for him janay did not
want to spend the rest of his life working on Life of Pi and four months
later he had a script for a new project make max Life of Pi was once again
without a director at this time Life of Pi was getting a reputation as being an
unfilmable movie it was getting riskier and riskier for 20th Century Fox with no
marketable star and every money sucking challenge imaginable for a filmmaker the
adaptation of llamar tells Man Booker Prize winner seemed impossible in early
2009 almost eight years after the novel was published the fourth director for
the film was hired Academy Award winner angley best known for his diverse resume
including Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon Brokeback Mountain and Hulk screenwriter
David McGee no one from Finding Neverland was
personally hired by Lee to write the screenplay working closely together
writers if you ever feel like giving up on a project remember everything Life of
Pi went through in three-and-a-half years of working on the movie McGee and
Lee wrote 170 drafts of the script Life of Pi was a story that is told primarily
from the mind of the character PI alone on the lifeboat with a tiger
how can they translate it to the screen Li and McGee
goes deep into the project speaking with those who had survived at sea visiting
holy locations in India and even setting out in a boat during harsh weathers
themselves to gain the personal experience once again it felt as though
the movie was back on track if there was still the issue of a marketable lead
finding a young Indian boy to play the role of Pi a huge responsibility was
challenging and lengthy it required a worldwide search with Lee auditioning
3,000 actors in the end he found Suraj Sharma and placed him in a setting as
daunting as lifeboat with a tiger his first Impossible Hollywood movie
lacking a familiar name on the bill continued to be a concern for the studio
at least for the North American audience at a time Tobey Maguire the original
spider-man himself was cast as the author interviewing a much older PI
Patel but Lee later felt that having a recognizable face would be more of a
distraction than benefit on top of that there was another worry for the studio
yes the same concern that troubled them a few years ago budget in 2010 gem
journalist and Tom Rothman - chairman of 20th Century Fox called Elizabeth
gobbler letting her know that they were going to withdraw from the project
ending funding completely Life of Pi the movie was on life support and was about
to have his plug polled the proposed budget was simply too big of a risk for
the studio dabbler called angling to deliver the bad news Fox is off the
project and Lee was free to shop the film to another studio a mammoth project
to save the lease which may stall the film for another decade gobbler was as
disappointed as Lee there was nothing else like it yes it wasn't the
conventional movie with heartthrobs and superheroes
but that was what made it worth fighting for to her surprise and admiration lead
to not give up before the call ended he told her he will make his way to LA
to discuss the matter in person with him he had Suraj Sharma's audition tape and
a pre-visualization scene of the shipwreck the pivotal moment in the
story the left the character PI stranded at sea in addition to those two selling
points Lee was willing to accommodate with the expenses gambler was impressed
and she brought it to gianopolous and rahman together they cut 25 million
dollars from the proposed budget this was helped by filming many portions of
the movie in Taiwan in 2012 Life of Pi was released to rave reviews earning the
film 11 Academy Award nominations including a nomination for screenwriter
David McGee for Best Adapted Screenplay and producer gillnetter for Best Picture
along with Angley and David Womack the film ended up winning four Oscars
including one for Angley as Best Director not only was it well received
by the critics to the delight of the studio the movie turned out to be a
commercial success grossing over 500 million dollars worldwide with a final
budget of a hundred and twenty million dollars taking him nearly four years
eglee claimed it was the hardest movie he ever had to make
not every adaptation will be deemed impossible or receive critical acclaim
and be a commercial success yet every adaptation will have their own unique
story is there a movie based on a book that you're curious about let me know in
the comments below and don't forget to subscribe for more videos about the
journeys of writers and creators I'll see you in the next video