A lot of people thought the epic novel Life of Pi could never be made into a movie. It was too complex, too surreal.
And then there's the whole idea of sticking an actor in a boat with a man-eating tiger.
Yann Martel, however, says he thinks director Ang Lee did a pretty good job of pulling it off.
"It's very faithful to the book, it's visually absolutely stunning and it's a whole trip," the Canadian author said as people lined up to see the film version of his novel at Montreal's Festival du nouveau cinema last weekend. The movie will open across Canada next month.
Life of Pi, which has sold millions of copies worldwide since it was published in 2001, counts U.S. President Barack Obama among its fans. In a letter to Martel two years ago, Obama described the 2002 winner of the prestigious Man Booker Prize as "a lovely book - an elegant proof of God, and the power of storytelling."
But most filmmakers shrank from adapting it. Even Martel acknowledges the dense plot has enough material for multiple movies.
Then came Lee, who was undaunted. Taking it on four years ago, he tackled the compelling adventure story of an Indian boy named Pi who is shipwrecked with a ferocious Bengal tiger, and combined the tale with cutting edge 3-D technology.
The technology works with the film's stunning locales and exotic creatures to amazing effect and solves the problem of pairing actor Suraj Sharma, who plays Pi, with a carnivore.
The computer-generated tiger is indistinguishable from the real thing. It had members of the Montreal audience jumping in their seats when the hulking beast snarled and lunged.
Martel wrote Life of Pi while living in Montreal and has since moved to Saskatoon.
He loved Lee's previous movies, which include The Ice Storm, Brokeback Mountain, and Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, and was thrilled when the director took on Life of Pi.
"He's a remarkably versatile director."
Martel did read early versions of the screenplay and gave some feedback, but generally stayed out of Lee's way.
"He's going to make the movie he wants to make," he said. "I'm going to let him do it."
Life of Pi goes into wide release Nov. 21.
