Ang Lee who is known for his work on Marvel’s Hulk, directed 2012’s adventure drama film Life of Pi, based on Yann Martel’s 2001 novel of the same name. The movie starred debutant Suraj Sharma, Irrfan Khan, Tabu, Rafe Spall, Adil Hussain, and Gérard Depardieu in significant roles. The story follows two survivors of a shipwreck who are on a lifeboat stranded in the Pacific Ocean for 227 days.
Upon its release, the movie received critical acclaim with an appreciation for Lee’s direction, screenplay, music, visual effects, and cinematography. The movie was nominated for eleven awards at the 85th annual Academy Awards and managed to win four out of them. Ahead of the 96th Academy Awards, a comment from a veteran cinematographer about Life of Pi has resurfaced on the Internet.
Christopher Doyle’s strong opinions on Ang Lee’s Life of Pi winning Best Cinematography
In his interview with Blouin News via Screen Crush, veteran cinematographer Christopher Doyle shared his views on filmmaker Ang Lee’s 2012 Life of Pi winning Best Cinematography award at the Oscars 2012. Claudio Miranda served as the cinematographer for Life of Pi and Doyle said,
“I’m trying to work out how to say this most politely and no offence to– I don’t know Ang Lee personally, but what a total f**king piece of s**t . Let me be blunt…What the f**k are you talking about cinematography, sorry. I’m sorry…I think it’s a f**king insult to cinematography.”
Doyle explained that he thinks that Ang Lee who also directed Marvel’s Hulk is a wonderful person and someone who cares so much, but added that what it says to the real world is that it’s all about the ones who have money and can control their image. He added,
“And I say f**k you, wankers. Are you f**king kidding? That’s not cinematography…You’ve lost cinema. This is not cinema and it’s not cinematography. It’s not cinematography.”
Roger Deakins’ work for Skyfall was overlooked by the Academy at the time, which upset a lot of people at the time as it was considered one of the best works that came out in 2013. Doyle however mentioned in his interview that the award for Best Cinematography shouldn’t be given to a movie that is digitized image but also admitted that he could be wrong as he hadn’t seen the movie.
Claudio Miranda talks about working with Marvel director Ang Lee for Life of Pi
Ahead of the Oscars 2012, cinematographer Claudio Miranda who was nominated for his work on Life of Pi was asked about his experience of working with Ang Lee. He said during an interview with THR,
“He talked about how a scene is suppose to feel emotionally rather than the technicalities of it. Zero to 2D; one was very light 3D; five would be deep 3D. I don’t think we ever hit a five or a four. We used mostly the lower numbers.”
Miranda shared that he used 3D to shoot Tron: Legacy which helped him to work on Life of Pi. In an interview with IndieWire, he said at the time that Ang Lee and he went swimming in the phosphorescent ocean to get inspired adding that he looked at the paintings for the warm orange light on the ocean-surreal god moments.
The director of cinematographer revealed that the Bengal Tiger used in the movie is one of the best CGI tigers that was created by Rhythm & Hues adding that the government of India believed that they were hurting a real tiger and had initially banned the movie. Miranda noted Rhythm & Hues had to put together a little making of the tiger and send it to the Indian Commission to explain that it wasn’t real.
For Oscars 2024, El Conde’s Edward Lachman, Killers of the Flower Moon’s Rodrigo Prieto, Maestro’s Matthew Libatique, Oppenheimer’s Hoyte van Hoytema, and Poor Things‘ Robbie Ryan are nominated for Best Cinematography award.
Life of Pi is available to stream on Disney+.
Oscars 2024 will be available to stream live on ABC.
