Ang Lee’s Life of Pi took the world by storm in 2012, but the movie almost took a very different route by installing a director who eventually left to work on a different project. Although the overall story would likely have remained largely the same as the 2001 novel of the same name, the original director would almost definitely have opted for different creative decisions than Lee. It’s impossible to tell now whether this would have hindered or helped the movie’s quality, but it’s a fun thing to think about.
The intrigue of Life of Pi‘s ending helped propel the movie to box office success, taking over $609m worldwide on a budget of $120m (via Box Office Mojo). It’s one of those movies where reading the book first isn’t necessary, although it can result in some interesting comparisons if the source material is known to the viewer. Although it lacks the traditional fantastical nature of some of the other best animal movies of all time, Life of Pi still boasts just the right amount of magic. In the hands of another director, this ratio may have shifted.
M. Night Shyamalan Was The First Director Attached To 2012’s Life Of Pi
Shyamalan left to make 2006’s Lady in the Water
It didn’t take long after the novel was published for work to begin on the Life of Pi movie. In the early-mid 2000s, M. Night Shyamalan was attached to the project and was set to be the director to bring the story to the big screen. Ultimately, he decided to step away to make 2006’s Lady in the Water, and Life of Pi was left without anyone in the director’s chair. Eventually, Ang Lee was chosen as his successor.
Life of Pi has a rating of 86% on Rotten Tomatoes.
Between Shyamalan and Lee came Alfonso Cuarón, who is still perhaps most famous for directing 2004’s Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. However, he eventually decided the project wasn’t for him. After that was Jean-Pierre Jeunet, who had recently enjoyed success with 2001’s Amélie. Once again, it didn’t turn out to be a good fit, and this is when Ang Lee finally became the official director of Life of Pi.
How Li Of Pi Would Have Been Different With Shyamalan In Charge
Lee’s Life of Pi left the ending relatively ambiguous, and I doubt Shyamalan would have done that
It’s tough to imagine that Shyamalan’s Life of Pi would have been anything like Lee’s. Although the former hadn’t quite established himself quite so firmly during his time as the movie’s prospective director, the big twist at the end of 1999’s The Sixth Sense foreshadowed what would grow to become one of the director’s biggest hallmarks – a last-minute revelation that changes the entire story.
Life of Pi turned out to have a very similar moment, as it turns out that Suraj Sharma’s тιтular character is strongly implied to have experienced something far more harrowing than simply surviving at sea with an angry tiger named Richard Parker. If Shyamalan had been the director, I think he would have drawn far more attention to this twist, and generally made the movie far darker. I wouldn’t have been surprised if he’d solidly answered the question of which version of events were real, and even shown the unfiltered moments from immediately after Life of Pi‘s sinking ship scene.
Source: Box Office Mojo, Rotten Tomatoes,
