(xinhuanet)In the evening of Feb. 24, 2013, best picture nominee Best of Pi took home two earlier awards: Cinematography and Visual Effects. With many more awards still in contention, it will be an exciting evening for director Ang Lee and all crew of Life of Pi.
Indian actor Suraj Sharma (R) playing the character Pi, stands near a tiger named Richard Parker in a lifeboat, one of the props used in the new film “Life of Pi” by director Ang Lee, in this undated publicity photograph from the film released to Reuters November 16, 2012. [Photo/Agencies]
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With 11 Academy Awards nominations and world wide box office of $600 million, Life of Pi is a strong contender for the prestigious Best Picture award. Accodring to Xinhua News Agency the movie Life of Pi by director Ang Lee, won the Best Cinematography and Special Visual Effects at the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) Film Awards earlier this month.
Li told Xinhua, “This is the hardest movie I have made. I am very proud of how the movie was praised everywhere in the world, particularly in China. It is a great feeling to be here. It has been a privilege to make this movie. Everything else is a bonus.” |
Li outlined why he chose to film a modern novel, “Life of Pi” written in 2001 by Yann Martel, which was both fantastical and almost impossible to film. The book is about a teenage Indian boy who finds himself trapped in a lifeboat in the middle of the ocean with a tiger called Richard Parker. He said, “It is a philosophical book, which seems impossible to translate to an expensive looking movie.”
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It was this quality of difficulty which caught Li’s imagination. “Impossibilities took me, the challenge of it, that made it very interesting,” said Li.
He added, “Most of all, I just could not stop thinking about it; I was hounded by the book and I had to do it, and I feel privileged to have got the money to put it on, so many people took a leap of faith with me. It felt like a mission.” “Life of Pi” was hailed by another leading director as a novel and intensely interesting film, which opened up new possibilities. |