February 18, 2009

Adrift in a lifeboat with a hyena, a zebra, an orangutan, and a tiger.

I love the novel "The Life of Pi," and I've always sort of wanted to see a movie of it and sort of dreaded seeing what that movie would have to be. Now, it seems that Ang Lee may be doing the movie. I hope it's good.

30 comments:

rhhardin said...

1. Row goat to shore B.
2. Return to shore A.
3. Row cabbage to shore B.
4. Row goat to shore A.
5. Row lion to shore B.
6. Return to shore A.
7. Row goat to shore B.

Fred4Pres said...

I liked that book too. I would image it to be hard to translate it into a movie, but Lee is a good choice to direct.

AllenS said...

"The Life of Omega."

kjbe said...

I agree - I've always been curious about a movie version, but also apprehensive. It's such an interpretive story, though Ang Lee is one of the best I'd trust to take that charge.

Curtiss said...

I guess there won't be a cameo for Travis, after all.

traditionalguy said...

Not having even heard of this book, I expect it's a cute and heart warming story of the brotherhood of animals, or its a Chinese Astrology textbook. Both are too fantasy filled for my taste. But I am ready to learn new reality if you reccommend this.

Ann Althouse said...

This is a fantastic book.

Simon said...

You think because an orangutan is adrift in a lifeboat with you, he doesn't hate you?

KCFleming said...

Brokeback Lifeboat.

Joe M. said...

This is a fantastic book.

haha.

Good book. Probably going to be a bad movie.

AllenS said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
AllenS said...

Starring:

Howard Dean as the hyena.

Barack Obama as the zebra.

Joe Biden as the orangutan.

and Dick Cheney as the tiger.

This movie is rated for mature audiences only. Violence, offensive language, no nudity, however.

Rockport Conservative said...

It is amazing to me that supposedly informed people haven't read this book. I got it from my 13 year old granddaughter. It is amazing. We all have a Tiger in our lifeboat.
READ THE BOOK you people who haven't.

traditionalguy said...

Allan s... Why no females? The boat could be rescued by Lara Croft(Angelina Jolie) in her all natural Mae West outfit. That would add a target audience. And she could play a tigeresse role to perfection.

AllenS said...

Starring:

Howard Dean as the hyena.

Barack Obama as the zebra.

Joe Biden as the orangutan.

Dick Cheney as the tiger.

and Angelina Jolie as the beaver.

There, happy?

KCFleming said...

I have little patience for novels anymore. I am almost 50 and will be dead soon enough.

"If I spoke prose, you'd all find out,
I don't know what I talk about.

Ad hoc, ad loc and quid pro quo.
So little time, so much to know."

Unknown said...

The author of Pi had a realistic view of the animal world and nature. He would have viewed Travis as a foolish abomination.

I felt filled with pity during the zebra scene. That 911 call evokes the same kind of response.

Michael Haz said...

It's an entertaining book, quirky, and original.

How well it can be made into a movie remains to be seen.

traditionalguy said...

Thanks Allen s... After all this is the number one Breast Blog.

Lem the artificially intelligent said...

You think because an orangutan is adrift in a lifeboat with you, he doesn't hate you?

Kids say the darndest things ;)

James Wigderson said...

Is the Orangutan Dr. Zaius? Will we see the statue of liberty?

David said...

Ruth sez:

"It is amazing to me that supposedly informed people haven't read this book."

Thanks a lot, Ruth. Way to dis 99.99999% of the human race.

Smilin' Jack said...

Adrift in a lifeboat with a hyena, a zebra, an orangutan, and a tiger. I love the novel "The Life of Pi," and I've always sort of wanted to see a movie of it and sort of dreaded seeing what that movie would have to be.

We know Ann hates saccharine anthropomorphizing. To satisfy her, the movie will have to end with the orang ripping someone's face off. Just to send the right message to the children.

Ann Althouse said...

The animals in "The Life of Pi" are not cute. The book is full of interesting discussion of what animals are like. Click my "Life of Pi" tag for a few things I've written on the subject in the past. The story has a boy in a life boat that happens to also have some zoo animals. His family owned a zoo and was moving the animals by ship when it wrecked. He barely escaped, and he didn't want the animals in his little boat. They are not his friends. He is terrified of the tiger and trying to survive.

Christy said...

A director picked before the screenwriter is selected? Second time that I know of that has happened with this novel. Will the movie actually get made this time?

I don't see how this novel can be made into a satisfying movie and will take great pleasure in seeing a creative genius figure out how to do it. May even give me hope that problems like the economy can be conquered.

traditionalguy said...

Sounds Cartoonish, or like Who Saved Roger Rabbit. The lead can be Christian Bale. He will know just how to talk to the animals. Then Angelina Jolie wiil fit into some pre-sinking steamy Love Boat scenes. How old is this "Boy" anyway? WE can write him in as age 28 since only a few elite Professors have heard of it, much less read the entire thing. And about that title: no one will see a movie about a boy named Pi. We can jazz it up like "The Sinking of the Pi-tanic", unless copy write laws taught by Emu-like Professors stops that. Hollywood can market whatever we want to film with Stars like these.

KCFleming said...

The Wizard of Oz
First Draft

Pi: Do you think there could be wild animals in here?
Tin Woodsman: Perhaps.
Scarecrow: Even ones that, that eat... straw?
Tin Woodsman: Some, but mostly hyenas, zebras, and tigers.
Pi: Orangutans?
Scarecrow: And tigers?
Tin Woodsman: And hyenas.
Pi: Oh my!

Hyenas, zebras, and tigers.
Oh my!
Hyenas, zebras, and tigers.
Oh my!
Weeeeeeee'rre OFF to see the Wizard, the wonderful Wizard of Pi!

blake said...

"If I spoke prose, you'd all find out,
I don't know what I talk about.

Ad hoc, ad loc and quid pro quo.
So little time, so much to know."


Nowhere, man.

amba said...

I love this book so much that at the thought of a movie, my heart starts to beat hard with fear and hope. I want to see it, I don't want to see it.

amba said...

Right. Listen to Ann. It's no sentimental animal story. The tiger is not "Here, kitty, kitty." Pi has to dominate it and keep it in its own part of the lifeboat. He does it, in part, by making the tiger seasick. Then, of course, he shares the fish he catches with the tiger. They come to respect each other, but they never, ever cuddle.