Oscar-winning director Ang Lee (Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon) returns to the big screen later this year with a highly anticipated project that is already flying on the Oscar radar.

Life of Pi is set to be an ambitious adaptation of Yann Martel’s original novel, and we’ve now got a look at the first poster, essentially a one-sheet version of the brilliant first image we saw back in April.

Suraj Sharma will be making his acting debut as the eponymous Pi, supported by Tabu (The Namesake), Irrfan Khan (The Amazing Spider-Man), Adil Hussain (Agent Vinod), and Gérard Depardieu (Mesrine), with David Magee (Finding Neverland) penning the script.

And despite early reports, Tobey Maguire is not a part of the cast, with Lee deciding to stick with an entirely international cast, so we’re looking forward to finding out who will be playing Yann Martel himself..

Courtesy of Waterstones, here’s the synopsis for Martel’s novel:

“After the tragic sinking of a cargo ship, a solitary lifeboat remains bobbing on the wild, blue Pacific. The only survivors from the wreck are a sixteen-year-old boy named Pi, a hyena, a zebra (with a broken leg), a female orangutan – and a 450-pound Royal Bengal tiger. The scene is set for one of the most extraordinary and best-loved works of fiction in recent years.”

Life of Pi will be released in the US on 21st November, followed by a slightly later release in the UK on 21st December. The tiny snippet of footage we saw last month looked potentially very impressive, and I think the Academy could well be calling early next year.

 

Source: via IMP Awards.