The Star Online: Entertainment: Movies
The Star Online: Entertainment: Movies |
| Posted: 24 Nov 2012 11:53 PM PST A teenage boy's life changes like the tides after he lands a plum but highly demanding role. TALK about luck. When Suraj Sharma walked into the building in New Delhi, India, where a Hollywood studio was holding auditions for a movie two years ago, he did so with the sole intention of providing moral support for his younger brother, Sriharsh. "He said he would buy me a Subway sandwich if I went with him to the audition. And I really wanted a Subway sandwich," said Suraj, 19, in a phone interview recently from Los Angeles, where he was doing the promotional rounds for Life Of Pi. While waiting for his brother outside the audition room, one of the casting team members saw Suraj – who was 17 at the time – and told him to give it a shot, too, since he also had the same features that they were looking for. "I went in and read for the role, although I didn't really expect anything. My brother is the one with the dream of becoming an actor; at the time I was thinking about studying economics in university, so I wasn't really hoping for anything to come out of the audition. But then I got a call back, and then another, and that's when I realised that I actually wanted the role," Suraj noted. When the brothers first went for the audition, details about the movie were kept under wraps. In fact, they didn't even know the film's title. "By my fourth or fifth audition, they finally told me what it was, which character I would be playing (Pi Patel, the lead) and the director I would be working with," said Suraj. He then got a copy of Yann Martel's Man Booker Prize-winning Life Of Pi and read it in preparation for his first meeting with director Ang Lee – a meeting that he had hoped would seal the deal. However, he didn't perform quite as well as he wanted to. "I was so nervous! I messed up my lines, I didn't know what to do or how to act. But instead of just telling me stop and leave, Ang helped me out. He directed me, and taught me how to do stuff. We went through some scenes together and I guess he was satisfied because two weeks later, we went to Taipei to start filming," Suraj revealed, adding that since getting the role, he had read the novel many times, and even compared it to the script. "I think the script is very loyal to the book, or at least the story. I was blown away by the book the first time I read it, but I think I only really got into the story after reading it a few more times. It's such an open-ended book and very philosophical, which is interesting to me." In fact, Suraj was so taken by the philosophical aspects of Life Of Pi that he is no longer interested in becoming an economist. At the time of this interview, Suraj was already a student at St Stephen's College in New Delhi, studying philosophy. He attributes this change not just to the experience of working on a film, but also to Lee, with whom Suraj developed a close relationship. He describes Lee as a father figure. "Ang makes you believe in the script and in the scenes. It's in the way he talks to you, and it's the same way he relates stories to people through his films. Spending time with Ang makes you think differently. "Life Of Pi and Ang kind of changed my mind about some things. I still don't know what's going to happen to me in the future, but I do know that I want to be on set and working. This has been quite a journey and a very personal one for me," Suraj shared. Getting physical For the first three months prior to filming, Suraj had to undergo some tough training and exercises in order to realistically portray the drastic physical changes that Pi goes through in the movie. And since a large chunk of the young actor's scenes sees him drifting at sea in a boat with a Bengal tiger, Suraj had to learn how to swim, something he admits to being a little fearful of in the beginning. "That was the scariest part for me!" he exclaimed. Suraj was mostly trained by stunt coordinator Charlie Croughwell and his son Cameron. He also had to learn some "ocean survival skills" from Steve Callahan, a real-life survivor who spent 77 days lost at sea. "It was all physically very hard and exhausting for me. I had to lose weight, then gain some back and tone up – the workouts were so intense. I did a lot of yoga, too. At the same time, I also had many sessions with Ang where we would just go over the script together and even read a few plays so that I could understand things better. "I think in some ways, I experienced Pi's journey through this training process," said Suraj. When shooting finally began, the actor felt that Pi was already a part of him and this gave him the confidence to play the role convincingly. "I think the people I worked with, and the training I went through, helped in building Pi inside of me." This confidence, and undoubtedly Lee's guidance, translated well onto film as Life Of Pi – which opened in the United States a few weeks ago – has been receiving rave reviews from critics and fans of the book, too. According to Suraj, his family members even cried after watching the film and they loved his performance. Even Sriharsh, who never got a call back for the same audition, was proud of his brother. Suraj said: "He was very happy for me when I got the role; there is no rivalry between us. Throughout it all, he kept giving me lots of encouragement and advice, and told me to listen to Ang. He also came to Taiwan with me, which was great because at least I could talk to him whenever I felt down about something. He's a good brother. "But he never got me that Subway sandwich, though." Related Stories: |
| Hobbit fever grips New Zealand ahead of world premiere Posted: 24 Nov 2012 09:10 PM PST WELLINGTON: Up to 100,000 people are expected to line the streets of Wellington on Wednesday for the world premiere of director Peter Jackson's long-awaited Middle Earth epic "The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey". Stars including Cate Blanchett, Elijah Wood, Barry Humphries and Hugo Weaving will tread the red carpet for the opening, the first instalment in a three-part prequel to Jackson's blockbuster "The Lord of the Rings" trilogy. Hobbit fever has seized New Zealand ahead and the capital is dotted with giant sculptures of key characters such as Gandalf the wizard atop the Embassy cinema and a bug-eyed Gollum greeting visitors at the airport. Images of British actor Martin Freeman playing the central role of Bilbo Baggins cover the entire facades of office blocks and have been plastered on everything from coins and stamps to the side of an Air New Zealand plane. Freeman, acclaimed for his work in "The Office" and "Sherlock", acknowledged his part as the hairy-toed adventurer in the much-loved J.R.R. Tolkien children's story was the biggest of his career. "This is proper, epic film making... I don't know any actors, apart from those who worked on 'The Lord of the Rings', who've made a film that's this big or taken this long," he told the Dominion Post. "I certainly don't think I'll ever do another film that's like, or as long, as this again." The films, which were shot back-to-back with an estimated budget of US$500 million, depict Bilbo's quest to reclaim the lost dwarf kingdom of Erebor from the fearsome dragon Smaug. Bringing them to the screen proved a saga in itself, taking more than six years after the project was first mooted in September 2006. Mexican film-maker Guillermo del Toro was initially poised to direct, but quit in 2010 after years of delays due to legal wrangling between Hollywood studios over the rights to the book, forcing Jackson to take over. When a green light to begin shooting was finally obtained, a union dispute threatened to move the production offshore - robbing it of its distinctive New Zealand backdrops - until the government intervened by changing labour laws. Jackson was also struck down by ill health early in the shoot and as recently as last week there were allegations - strongly denied by producers - of animal cruelty and a US lawsuit filed by Tolkien's heirs over marketing rights. Critics have also questioned whether a three-part saga is truly necessary given the original book stretches to just over 300 pages and suggested that box-office returns could have trumped artistic considerations. At one point last year Freeman joked about a "Hobbit curse", but with Jackson's original "Rings" trilogy grossing more than US$2.9 billion worldwide there was ample incentive to press on. The "Rings" movies also garnered critical success, snaring a total of 17 Oscars, including a record-equalling 11 at the 2004 Academy Awards, when "Return of the King" took out best picture and best director. The movies were also credited with spurring a tourist boom in New Zealand and turning its film sector from a virtual cottage industry specialising in art-house productions into a powerhouse worth US$2.6 billion a year to the economy. Tourism has stagnated in recent years and the industry is hoping the sweeping New Zealand vistas in the "Hobbit" will renew interest, marketing the country as "100 percent Middle Earth". Amateur short-film maker Shirley Jones said she would join the crowds at the Wellington premiere, not only to glimpse the stars but also to acknowledge the impact Jackson's adaptations have had on New Zealand. "They've put us on the map and provided momentum for creative industries across the board, not just in film," she told AFP. Spectacular as the Wellington event promises to be, nature could provide an even bigger accompaniment as two North Island volcanoes used to depict the desolate wasteland Mordor in the "Rings" movies rumble ominously. With uncanny timing, one staged a minor eruption last week and vulcanologists say both could burst to life at any moment. The first "Hobbit" movie will be released globally in December. The second, "The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug," is due in December 2013 and the final chapter "The Hobbit: There and Back Again" follows in July 2014. - AFP |
| Posted: 24 Nov 2012 03:33 PM PST The journey of Life Of Pi from book to screen was as arduous as its main character's journey through turbulent seas. Oscar-winner Ang Lee took up the challenge and finished the race. IN a way, Life Of Pi is a simple story. It's about a boy, a tiger and the temperamental sea where they are stranded. Yet, as readers of Yann Martel's award-winning 2001 novel know, the book's simplicity is deceptive. There's an amazing complexity to the story, which touches on themes of faith, survival and death, and is storytelling at its best. So much so that you do not know where truth and fiction start or end in Pi's world. Pi's (or Piscine Militor Patel) incredible story begins after his family decides to move from Pondicherry, India, to Canada. After closing their zoo, the Patels pack their belongings (which includes the zoo animals) and board a Japanese cargo ship, the Tsimtsum. The ship sinks en route to Canada, and Pi is cast adrift in the middle of the Pacific Ocean in a boat with a most unlikely companion: Richard Parker, a ferocious Bengal tiger. Pi has to not only survive the sea's tempestuous moods, he also has to keep his travelling companion's unpredictable behaviour in check – lest he end up as Richard's breakfast. "Here's the attraction I feel about the story of Pi," Ang Lee offered when met on the Taiwan set, a former airport at Taichung, last year. "Pi may be the biggest bullsh*tter. But you cannot prove him wrong. That's the attraction. Everything he says is fascinating." It was early May, and the director, sporting a white T-shirt with the words "Life Of Pi" and the picture of a tiger running after a man in a dive suit, managed to spare half an hour to talk to reporters during a rare break from filming. Lee was tasked to bring the book, which has been translated into 42 languages, to life. "It's a great book," Lee said of Martel's book. "I read it when it first came out and introduced it to my family. But I never thought it could be made into a movie because it's too expensive (to make)." This is probably what many thought as well. Studio executives certainly did when they put the movie on hold in 2010 after baulking at the movie's proposed US$70mil (RM210mil) budget, the Los Angeles Times reported in 2010. The movie went through an arduous development process which began in 2003 after Fox 2000 Pictures executive Elizabeth Gabler acquired the rights to the novel. By the time the studio approached Lee about four years ago, the project had gone through several writers and directors, including M. Night Shyamalan, Alfonso Cuaron and Jean-Pierre Jeunet, director of the French movie Amelie, who all had to drop out because of one thing or another. Still, Lee was intrigued enough to take up the offer. "I thought maybe I can crack this. Maybe I can make it work," he said, smiling. "I think, philosophically, I was very attracted to (the story). And I could relate to the material a lot because it's about being adrift. Identity problems and issues are very complicated for everybody. "I think using a voyage, where you're adrift and afloat, to portray the identity problem – that, I identify with very much." Lee officially came on board the project in early 2009, with location shoots in Taiwan and Pondicherry. The cast included Gerard Depardieu (as the rude chef onboard the Tsimtsum) and Indian actors Irrfan Khan (adult Pi) and Tabu (Gita Patel, Pi's mother). Depardieu was a blast, said Lee. "He was just here for a week. I told him: Just offer the worst your country has to offer to anybody. Just go there!" However, selecting an actor to play the young Pi proved to be a challenge because Lee found the character to be a mystery. "I could never imagine what Pi is … he's like everywhere, everything," he said ambiguously at one point. Fortunately, after an extensive talent search in India involving 3,000 young men, Lee found then-17-year-old Suraj Sharma from Delhi. Suraj wasn't even supposed to read for the part. His brother, an acting student, was the one who was supposed to be auditioning. However, the casting director approached him and invited him to audition as well. Working with actors – all actors, whether experienced or inexperienced, said Lee – is like climbing a mountain. "I can smell if they like acting or not," said Lee with a twinkle in his eye. "With Suraj, I could tell – even though he has never acted before – that he likes to act. That's why I bet on that. "I think Suraj has a great talent, which is 'believing'. Because this is a story about religion, about storytelling, about the essence of life, which one is an illusion, which one's the truth … it's our yearning to understand the unknown. So, the person has to be very emotional and look intelligent, and he has to be handy – he figures things out," he said. Suraj, he believes, is all that. "I think he's a thinker and he likes religions, which I think is very important. He's a representation of the whole human being. He has that 'big' look: he looks up at God and he's looking at God, not the statue of God," said Lee. After the selection came the tough work. Since Pi spends much of his time in the water during the movie, Suraj had to go through intense aquatic training. Then, he had to transform his body – gaining weight and then dropping the muscle to mirror Pi's weather-beaten, emaciated frame towards the end of the book. During our set visit, Suraj still had a few more kilogrammes to shed. "He's our angel," said Lee, chuckling. "Every shot is about him. And now his lunch hour is his work time: to lose weight!" Life Of Pi readers would be interested to see how Lee interprets the book's twisty ending. Bridging the mass audience's desire for a satisfying ending and honouring the book's open-ended one was another challenge Lee had to overcome. "Everyone has their own interpretation (of the book). For many years, I didn't believe anybody would go for that ending because it's an uncertain ending and the movie looks very expensive. It's a good idea, but these two elements are like pi (the mathematical concept) – they will never meet," he said. While Lee was not forthcoming about how he has interpreted the ending, he revealed that although there is some "alteration to detail", the movie will follow the book quite closely. "I think I'm more realistic than the book. In a book, you suggest something and you imagine it in your head. In a movie, what you see is what it is, so I have to land it in reality," he said. But Lee seemed confident that he has somehow bridged the gap between the tale's artistic, open-ended finish with the financial demands of a big-budget blockbuster. "It seems irrational, but eventually, I think we can make a very special movie. You just have to do interesting things, such as bring it to Taiwan and shoot it there!" he said, laughing. Related Stories: |
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