'Life of Pi' gets a new director

French helmer Jean-Pierre Jeunet will adapt the global bestseller

Oct 24 2005

Jean-Pierre Jeunet is to bring Yann Martel's award-winning bestseller 'Life of Pi' to the big screen.

The 'Amélie' helmer and his writing partner Guillaume Laurant are already hard at work on the adaptation, which revolves around a young boy’s voyage from India to Canada on a tiny lifeboat, with only a zebra, a hyena, an orang-utan and a Bengal tiger for company.

M Night Shyamalan had previously been attached to the project, but jumped ship to work on 'Lady in the Water', while Alfonso Cuarón was also rumoured to be taking the reigns.

However, as Fox 2000 President Elizabeth Gabler explains, 'We bought the book three years ago, and so many filmmakers were passionate about it, but we felt a responsibility to the material and Yann Martel to wait for the right one at the right time.

'We had the most amazing meeting with Jean-Pierre, one of those instances where he verbalized the things I had in my head, and every hope of what this movie could become.'

Production on 'Life of Pi' is set to start next summer.