Ang Lee explains his decision to adapt Life Of Pi into a movie

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In the landmark 200th issue of Total Film magazine , we go on set with Ang Lee to get a close-up look at his adaptation of Yann Martel’s Life Of Pi .

The issue is available for only £1.99 on your iPad (opens in new tab) , and you can read an excerpt from the feature here.

Lee admitted initially that he thought the Mann-Booker winning bestseller would never be made into a film, telling us, “It seemed obvious that structure wouldn’t work for a movie.”

So what convinced him to helm the adaptation then? “They let me read the previous draft and I was impressed,” he explained.

“I thought first of all I’ve got to bring the structure, and it came to me, the idea ‘3D’. I just thought I needed another dimension to make it possible. I needed to find a voice for the movie because the book to me is not a 16-year-old voice from India, it’s a Canadian dude.

“I put Yann Martel in there [ Irrfan Khan as the grown up Pi tells his story to Rafe Spall’s writer ]. Then I got excited. It’s a difficult but not impossible project and I took the challenge, including coming all the way here [ Taiwan ]. I don’t think I could make it anywhere else.”

Life Of Pi opens in the UK on 20 December 2012.

For more from Ang Lee on Life Of Pi , pick up the 200th issue of Total Film magazine, which is out now! You can save up to 50% on the cover price if you subscribe with out winter 2012 offer (opens in new tab) , or you can get our interactive iPad edition for only £1.99 (opens in new tab) .

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