Originally, M Night Shyamalan, the director behind Signs and The Sixth Sense, was slated to handle the directorial role for Life of Pi. Thankfully, M Night dropped out to produce Lady in the Water instead. Said to have been “the perfect person” to handle LoP, we all know it would have just been another suspensful, dimly-lit spiritually-infused allegory with a twist ending if M Night had done it. Life of Pi, as you know, is a suspensful, dimly-lit spiritually-infused allegory with a twist ending AND a tiger, so it’s probably best for somebody else to handle it.

After Shyamalan, they were hoping it would be Alfonso Cuaron, the man behind Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, but “they” were subsequently disappointed when he too gave the big thumbs-down. If you are wondering who “they” are, it’s Life of Pi producer Gil Netten. Don’t worry that his most noteworthy credentials include mediocre pulp like Fever Pitch and Dude, Where’s My Car?, the role of a producer is simply to locate and hire the right talent to execute a concept. In the end, it’s the director who sets and tone and style, and in our case, Jean-Pierre Jeunet will be relying on the same Editor, Cinematographer and Costume Designer as he did with Amélie. This means that Life of Pi is bound to have not only a juicy flavour, but a coherent and sound artistic vision.

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Word of caution: I wouldn't necessarily trust this article, since the director apparently dropped out, and the film has once again been put on hold.