This Would Make A Great Film...

In response to a thread by a commenter over the weekend on 'Difficult Books To Adapt', I thought I might as well start with this. Why difficult, I hear you all cry? Well, for two reasons in particular. One, because the film would be focused solely on one character, Pi Patel, who is shipwrecked in a lifeboat for a large part of the narrative. And, two, his only companion in the boat is a Bengal tiger. It's a fantastic premise, but it would be very difficult to do and still look realistic if they used CGI. And I'm not sure I'd want to be one of the "stuntmen" if they didn't use CGI. The first problem is, perhaps, less of one as anyone who has seen the excellent Cast Away (A-) will testify.

Also, there are attempts afoot to adapt this into a film but they, too, seem to have been beset by difficulties. Two directors (M. Night Shyamalan and Alfonso Cuaron) have bailed, leaving Jean Pierre Jeunet (Amelie, A Very Long Engagement, Alien Resurrection) at the helm. This is a shame. As readers of this site will know, I'm a huge Shyamalan fan and I think this is just his kind of material. He's also from Pondicherry, India, where Pi Patel hails from as well, though that's a little by the by. I was fortunate to attend a director screening of the Village where Shyamalan talked with passion about making this, and I think he would have done a great job.I like Jeunet, though I disliked what he did with Alien Resurrection quite a bit, and I'd be worried about how he'd handle the ending and the cinematographic feel of the book. We'll just have to wait and see. If it ever gets made.

The ending is another thing (I won't spoil it). It was a huge disappointment to me (and, I know, to others as well) but I think more interesting things could be done with it on screen to make it more effective.

"Difficult" is certainly the word!