Based on the award-winning and best-selling novel by Yann Martel, Ang Lee's Life of Pi finally has a full trailer. The film from the Academy Award winning director, hits theaters in less than four months so it's about time that more than just the Cinema Con attendees got a look at the highly anticipated literary adaptation. And, as described, it is absolutely gorgeous. You can watch it embedded below, or in high-res at Apple.com.
The trailer not only shows off the stunning cinematography from TRON: Legacy's Claudio Miranda - who did additional photography for David Fincher for years before working, and getting nominated for an Oscar as his DP on Curious Case of Benjamin Button - but also does a great job of setting up the simple, but powerful story. The frantic first half depicts the harrowing (yet still stunning) shipwreck that sets the zookeeper's son, Pi Patel, and his animal mates adrift. Then the second slows into their magical journey floating in the Pacific Ocean.
There are so many moments to single out from the trailer for their sheer beauty - the underwater wreckage, the message in the emergency drinking can, the whale breaching - but I'd have to say the shot of a dehydrated Pi petting Richard Parker (the Bengal tiger) was the most moving. (Even more images from the movie can be found here). Oh, and I'm not sure how much the title cards worked for me. No need to cut away from the images for any reason, even to announce the pedigree behind the project. I will say that one name in particular stuck out in the final credits and that was Moneyball composer Mychael Danna. Music will obviously be paramount for Ang Lee's adaptation and there couldn't have found a better match than Danna.
Suddenly, I'm very excited for Life of Pi. Something to fill the void between The Master and Django Unchained. Life of Pi opens November 21, 2012. Directed by Ang Lee and written for the screen by David Magee (Finding Neverland), the adaptation of Yann Martell's novel stars Suraj Sharma, Irrfan Khan, Gérard Depardieu and Tobey Maguire.
