SUBMITTED BY Timbo

October 9, 2003 — Fox 2000 has nabbed the writing and directing services of M. Night Shyamalan for their adaptation of the prize-winning book "Life of Pi". As Variety reports, Shyamalan was drawn to the project for many reasons, including the fact that the lead character in the story comes from the director's birthplace (Pondicherry, Tamil-Nadu province, India).

Here are some more details about the story from Amazon:

he precocious son of a zookeeper, 16-year-old Pi Patel is raised in Pondicherry, India, where he tries on various faiths for size, attracting "religions the way a dog attracts fleas." Planning a move to Canada, his father packs up the family and their menagerie and they hitch a ride on an enormous freighter. After a harrowing shipwreck, Pi finds himself adrift in the Pacific Ocean, trapped on a 26-foot lifeboat with a wounded zebra, a spotted hyena, a seasick orangutan, and a 450-pound Bengal tiger named Richard Parker ("His head was the size and color of the lifebuoy, with teeth"). It sounds like a colorful setup, but these wild beasts don't burst into song as if co-starring in an anthropomorphized Disney feature. After much gore and infighting, Pi and Richard Parker remain the boat's sole passengers, drifting for 227 days through shark-infested waters while fighting hunger, the elements, and an overactive imagination.

Shyamalan is working on "The Village", previously titled "The Woods". It's not know when he will tackle "Pi".