there’s a lot you don’t know about this
fantasy adventure story
my name is VY Patil I’m on a lifeboat
alone with the tiger
welcome to watchmojo.com and today we’re
exploring ten pieces of trivia about
Life of Pi
number 10 the inspiration our trivia
list begins with a fact about the
origins of this story this tale of a boy
who survives 227 days at sea is based on
a prize-winning novel of the same name
written by Canadian author Yann Martel
this story’s inspiration came from a
review of the 1981 short story Max and
the cats which centred on a man who gets
stranded in the Atlantic Ocean with a
Jaguar number 9
casting PI in the film the teenage
piscine Molitor Patel known simply as Pi
is older than he is in the book
incredibly seventeen-year-old Suraj
Sharma was chosen from more than 3,000
hopefuls to play the leading role even
though it was his first time acting he
only tried out because of his brother
who asked Suraj to go along with him to
the audition as a joke I went ok I’ll go
do this so I went and give the auditions
and somehow I got chosen into the second
round as I progressed through the stages
it turned from a joke to the most
important thing in my life
number 8 reduced intro and rating for
the film many story elements were
changed to make the film more dramatic
and exciting as a result most of the
lengthy intro of Martel’s book was
shortened so the film focuses more on
the lessons pi learned from his family
then from his mentors and most not think
like we do people who forget that get
themselves killed that Tiger is not your
friend when you look into his eyes you
are seeing your own emotions reflected
back at him the tone of the movie was
also changed the pain and suffering of
the book was removed so the film would
be family-friendly with a PG rating
number 7 nod to the book even though the
film changed many
parts of the original story it lovingly
paid respect to the book with various
visual cues the most notable of these is
the overhead shot that shows pie and the
tiger Richard Parker asleep while curled
up on opposite ends of the boat as fish
swim beneath them this is a direct
tribute to the book’s cover number 6
creating the tiger though Pye spends
much of the film trapped with Richard
Parker actor Sora Sharma was never
actually in the boat with the live 450
pound tiger the real tiger was only
filmed in certain scenes like when he is
sitting at the beginning of the film
swimming in the water
and during stick training CGI was used
for the remaining shots and in fact 86%
of the tiger shots were created by
computers here you see the different
lighting passes that take the guy from
looking flat lit to actually look like
he’s being lit in the Sun there’s a
mirror pass this actually takes all the
light that’s bouncing off the boat in
the sky and introduces little nuances in
the fur to make it look like he’s really
there number five the untamable
friendship
maybe the japako can’t be tamed but with
God’s will he can be trained
in the life of pi film pi is never fully
able to tame the tiger but this was not
the case in the book hi actually used
his zoo and circus knowledge to subdue
the beast we know this because the
creature makes a noise that tells us he
is no longer aggressive but to keep the
movie tension high this part was cut
number 4 a real-life PI director Angley
hired a man called Steven Callahan to
help with the movie in 1982 Callahan
survived
76 days on a rubber lifeboat in the
Atlantic Ocean when his sailboat sank he
was able to describe the conditions and
emotions he experienced so the film
would be even more convincing to
audiences I was mentioned in the book by
name and so I think they tracked me down
when I was a young man I built a little
boat and sailed it to Europe and was
coming home and something hit the side
of the boat and I spent the next two and
a half months learning to live like an
aquatic caveman the ecosystem developed
around the raft and followed me the
whole way and that’s what a lot of the
stories about the ecosystem of the ocean
and how high ends up learning to live on
that number three the carnivorous island
in the film Pye and Richard Parker only
spent a day on the carnivorous island
which was done in order to help the
story flow the island and its terror are
displayed through scenes like when Pye
discovers human teeth but it is shown in
such a way as to make the audience doubt
if it really existed this doubt is
explained more later in the film when PI
is older and speaking with the writer
with the tooth come from years ago some
poor fellow just like me
must have found himself stranded on the
Thailand I like B thought he might stay
there forever but all that the island
gave him by day it took away again
number two moments of cinematic beauty
Angley manages to capture the novel’s
moments of beauty and wonder on film
including such scenes as a lightning
storm and the introduction of the whale
while the movies running time meant many
cuts were necessary the biggest omission
is the fact that audiences do not
overhear all of PI’s thoughts to make up
for this the film focuses on stunning
scenery and close-ups to show PI’s
emotions number one
Oscar milestones rounding off our trivia
list is a fact about this movie’s
winning ways and the Oscar goes to
Angley this is the first PG rated film
to win the Oscar for Best Director since
1985 out of Africa it was also the first
family film to win the Oscar for Best
Director since 1969 s Oliver and the
first film to win Best Director without
taking home the Best Motion Picture
Academy Award since another of Lee’s
films 2005 s Brokeback Mountain I really
want to thank you for believing this
story and share this incredible journey
with me I need to thank ya Martell for
writing this incredible inspiring book
are you a fan of Life of Pi which did
you enjoy more the novel or the film I
wrote Life of Pi because I had to I did
that story took possession of me took
hold of me for more illuminating top 10s
be sure to subscribe to watchmojo.com
fantasy adventure story
my name is VY Patil I’m on a lifeboat
alone with the tiger
welcome to watchmojo.com and today we’re
exploring ten pieces of trivia about
Life of Pi
number 10 the inspiration our trivia
list begins with a fact about the
origins of this story this tale of a boy
who survives 227 days at sea is based on
a prize-winning novel of the same name
written by Canadian author Yann Martel
this story’s inspiration came from a
review of the 1981 short story Max and
the cats which centred on a man who gets
stranded in the Atlantic Ocean with a
Jaguar number 9
casting PI in the film the teenage
piscine Molitor Patel known simply as Pi
is older than he is in the book
incredibly seventeen-year-old Suraj
Sharma was chosen from more than 3,000
hopefuls to play the leading role even
though it was his first time acting he
only tried out because of his brother
who asked Suraj to go along with him to
the audition as a joke I went ok I’ll go
do this so I went and give the auditions
and somehow I got chosen into the second
round as I progressed through the stages
it turned from a joke to the most
important thing in my life
number 8 reduced intro and rating for
the film many story elements were
changed to make the film more dramatic
and exciting as a result most of the
lengthy intro of Martel’s book was
shortened so the film focuses more on
the lessons pi learned from his family
then from his mentors and most not think
like we do people who forget that get
themselves killed that Tiger is not your
friend when you look into his eyes you
are seeing your own emotions reflected
back at him the tone of the movie was
also changed the pain and suffering of
the book was removed so the film would
be family-friendly with a PG rating
number 7 nod to the book even though the
film changed many
parts of the original story it lovingly
paid respect to the book with various
visual cues the most notable of these is
the overhead shot that shows pie and the
tiger Richard Parker asleep while curled
up on opposite ends of the boat as fish
swim beneath them this is a direct
tribute to the book’s cover number 6
creating the tiger though Pye spends
much of the film trapped with Richard
Parker actor Sora Sharma was never
actually in the boat with the live 450
pound tiger the real tiger was only
filmed in certain scenes like when he is
sitting at the beginning of the film
swimming in the water
and during stick training CGI was used
for the remaining shots and in fact 86%
of the tiger shots were created by
computers here you see the different
lighting passes that take the guy from
looking flat lit to actually look like
he’s being lit in the Sun there’s a
mirror pass this actually takes all the
light that’s bouncing off the boat in
the sky and introduces little nuances in
the fur to make it look like he’s really
there number five the untamable
friendship
maybe the japako can’t be tamed but with
God’s will he can be trained
in the life of pi film pi is never fully
able to tame the tiger but this was not
the case in the book hi actually used
his zoo and circus knowledge to subdue
the beast we know this because the
creature makes a noise that tells us he
is no longer aggressive but to keep the
movie tension high this part was cut
number 4 a real-life PI director Angley
hired a man called Steven Callahan to
help with the movie in 1982 Callahan
survived
76 days on a rubber lifeboat in the
Atlantic Ocean when his sailboat sank he
was able to describe the conditions and
emotions he experienced so the film
would be even more convincing to
audiences I was mentioned in the book by
name and so I think they tracked me down
when I was a young man I built a little
boat and sailed it to Europe and was
coming home and something hit the side
of the boat and I spent the next two and
a half months learning to live like an
aquatic caveman the ecosystem developed
around the raft and followed me the
whole way and that’s what a lot of the
stories about the ecosystem of the ocean
and how high ends up learning to live on
that number three the carnivorous island
in the film Pye and Richard Parker only
spent a day on the carnivorous island
which was done in order to help the
story flow the island and its terror are
displayed through scenes like when Pye
discovers human teeth but it is shown in
such a way as to make the audience doubt
if it really existed this doubt is
explained more later in the film when PI
is older and speaking with the writer
with the tooth come from years ago some
poor fellow just like me
must have found himself stranded on the
Thailand I like B thought he might stay
there forever but all that the island
gave him by day it took away again
number two moments of cinematic beauty
Angley manages to capture the novel’s
moments of beauty and wonder on film
including such scenes as a lightning
storm and the introduction of the whale
while the movies running time meant many
cuts were necessary the biggest omission
is the fact that audiences do not
overhear all of PI’s thoughts to make up
for this the film focuses on stunning
scenery and close-ups to show PI’s
emotions number one
Oscar milestones rounding off our trivia
list is a fact about this movie’s
winning ways and the Oscar goes to
Angley this is the first PG rated film
to win the Oscar for Best Director since
1985 out of Africa it was also the first
family film to win the Oscar for Best
Director since 1969 s Oliver and the
first film to win Best Director without
taking home the Best Motion Picture
Academy Award since another of Lee’s
films 2005 s Brokeback Mountain I really
want to thank you for believing this
story and share this incredible journey
with me I need to thank ya Martell for
writing this incredible inspiring book
are you a fan of Life of Pi which did
you enjoy more the novel or the film I
wrote Life of Pi because I had to I did
that story took possession of me took
hold of me for more illuminating top 10s
be sure to subscribe to watchmojo.com
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