'Life of Pi' Screenplay Needed 170 Rewrites: Do You Like Big Challenges?

by SodaHead Celebs Posted 2012/11/21 20:40:18

Related Topics: Life of Pi, Ang Lee, Yann Martel

216 votes
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	Yes	130 votes	60%
	No	86 votes	40%

Ang Lee's new film "Life of Pi" is wowing critics everywhere, but it very nearly didn't get made. It's an adaptation of Yann Martel's famous book, which won the Booker Prize and is a staple of many school curriculums, and is considered by many to be unfilmable. Even screenwriter David McGee didn't think it could be done, but he eventually managed it -- after 170 script revisions.

In an article for The Atlantic, McGee says that he initially read and loved the book years ago, but "dismissed" the idea of making it into a film. But six years later he met with Ang Lee, and "almost immediately... went from dismissing the novel as impossible to having it as my next project."

During the writing process, McGee spent time on a boat adrift at sea, traveled to India and, over the course of three and a half years, wrote "170 drafts of the script." Apparently, after a few weeks, he said "I don't really know how we're going to do this," to which Lee replied "Neither do I." Do you enjoy taking on big challenges?

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Just G 2012/11/23 22:10:12

Yes

+7
I like pie.

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More polls by SodaHead Celebs

Joey 2012/11/26 21:27:03

Yes

When I got it .. I just new it was going to be a math book . Tell the history of 3.141592

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Daniel 2012/11/26 21:12:17

Yes

I love a good challenge but at what point of remaking the wheel do you say it is no longer a wheel? 170 rewrites sounds like the story is no longer contained in the book. Better to make a new story than change a book to suit the screen. Atlas Shrugged is a great example. No one could write a screenplay that was relevant to the story in Atlas Shrugged but they pushed it ahead. Not only was the story made in two parts, could easily have been four, but they dulled the sharpend point of the story.

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TikkiPurdy 2012/11/26 16:40:24

Yes

I like to keep myself busy, to challenge myself and be pushed to my limits

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Meng 2012/11/26 13:47:06

Yes

That's why I moved to the other side of the world.

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Mark 2012/11/26 12:42:37
TimothyBrianFoley 2012/11/26 02:57:31

Yes

they are fun

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MiinaNiemi03 2012/11/25 17:28:16

Yes

Absolutely. I am very lucky to have a career where I am challenged on a daily basis.

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mblack 2012/11/25 09:42:56
xprimale 2012/11/25 06:16:14

No

The Life of Pi looks like an extremely pointless and tiring movie.

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↓←↑♣→NVL←♣↑→↓ 2012/11/25 06:14:19

Yes

Yes but I hated the book, it was sooooooooooo boring

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Michelle 2012/11/25 04:24:41

Yes

+1
I'm currently participating in National Novel Writing Month-- the challenge is to write 50K words in a month. (I'm at 88K this year with the goal to complete my novel). I can't say I don't, because I keep going back to that every year. :)

I'm surprised at the amount of "no"s. I mean, I realize we live in a "easy and now" world, when it comes to looking for satisfaction in life... but whatever happened to..
Achieving goals gives a much longer, more awesome satisfaction, and you're left with achievements. "I'd rather be out enjoying life"? Well, challenges are enjoyable. Challenges are climbing mountains.

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mytstar 2012/11/24 23:58:32

No

+1
No I dont like Big Challenges....I used to jump on them... but I tired of it... prefer to just live simple and uneventful as possible now...

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Erinite 2012/11/24 23:50:17

No

Sometimes, yes. Sometimes, no. It depends on what the challenge is.

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insanecrazyladyb 2012/11/24 22:53:38

No

It really STINKS

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Valerie© 2012/11/24 16:55:08

No

Fixing up a house, yes, that's rewarding.
Finding the break in a page of numbers, no way.

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ssmithix 2012/11/24 15:54:47

Yes

+1
Sure

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ssmithix to ssmithix 2012/11/24 15:57:10

+2
Isnt it interesting that (as of now anyway) the vote is 53 yes to 47 no? Is that the 47 percent we all talk about? Could be

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thє вlu... to ssmithix 2012/11/24 18:32:45
thє вluє wαndєrєr 2012/11/24 12:10:54 (edited)
ssmithix to thє вlu... 2012/11/24 16:03:29

+1
Wow you sound just like my son. He's in his early 20s and finally got a good job. Quit after 2 days saying he was being exploited. I asked him what that meant and he said there was a lot of pressure and the customers were not being very nice. Duh! No one is going to pay him good money for an easy job or taking compliments all day. (well except maybe the govt). Life wasn't meant to be a cake walk. Shame on our schools and the media for telling your generation otherwise. As Steven Tyler crooned, "everybody's got their dues in life to pay!"

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thє вlu... to ssmithix 2012/11/24 16:49:25 (edited)
ssmithix to thє вlu... 2012/11/24 16:58:19

+1
30k a year plus bennies for a guy who quit college and had been out of work for 18 months with no special skills is a good job. Your last statement scares me. Until recently, you worked or you starved to death. There was no "it's not worth it.". You didn't choose whether you wanted to work or not. You didn't expect other people to support you, that was the ultimate dishonor and you had to be very sick or completely disabled. To choose to work or not is insane

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thє вlu... to ssmithix 2012/11/24 18:36:52
ssmithix to thє вlu... 2012/11/24 19:07:53

True. But the time is soon coming when we'll go back to the work or starve system. As it should be.

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thє вlu... to ssmithix 2012/11/25 10:42:17 (edited)
ssmithix to thє вlu... 2012/11/26 02:27:35

Many people rent an apt and ride public transit. They cook rather than eat out. Not working should never be an option

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mytstar to thє вlu... 2012/11/25 00:01:20

+1
Moto..." Never let them know you are capable of doing more.. or soon you'll be doing more than your capable of"

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hatter 2012/11/24 05:15:27

Yes

+2
Did he get paid those years for writing or did he live on some bodies dime. Me I only get by the hour or how much I get done. Whatever it is. It is not enuff to live.

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hatter to hatter 2012/11/24 05:18:07

I don't think he re wrote it. He probably just corrected it 170 times.

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ashlee 2012/11/24 05:09:33

Yes

I love to be challenged, especially with deadlines.

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MissAdventure 2012/11/24 04:12:56

Yes

+2
Depends on the challenge...I had to rewrite my honors thesis 12 times, and that was quite enough. I'm not sure if 170 revisions is genius or being much too particular.

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♥Nicole Nataliah♥ 2012/11/24 03:50:18

No

Like it calm

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Kiki,Pixie,Worm 2012/11/24 02:40:37

No

+2
They make me frustrated. I don't feel satisfied with myself when I am done, I just feel like I waisted a huge chunk of my day trying to finish a difficult challenge when I could have been having fun and enjoying life :/.

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Nicky 2012/11/24 02:07:56

No

not really, they get me frustrated,

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I NEED A HORSE 2012/11/24 01:16:18
Adam W 2012/11/23 22:21:22

Yes

Yes, I do.

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calvin236 2012/11/23 22:18:18

No

but if the challenge is worth it, i will enjoy it.

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Just G 2012/11/23 22:10:12

Yes

+7
I like pie.

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Nekosar... to Just G 2012/11/24 01:14:53

+1
You deserve the top opinion.

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Sedated... to Just G 2012/11/24 04:34:47

+1
Raves, we gotta make this top opinion peopleeee.

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