World famous Taiwanese film director Ang Lee recently decided to use the southern town of Kenting as a location for his next production.
Lee is currently planning to shoot a movie adaptation of the novel Life of Pi, in which the lead character, a boy named Pi, spends 227 days drifting across the ocean on a boat before being washed up on the Mexican coast. Kenting was chosen because of its similarity to the Mexican landscape. The movie is scheduled to be released on Dec. 14, 2012.
Film crew were spotted scouting out locations on the Hengchun Peninsula last Saturday. At a beach resort on the west coast, the crew snorkeled in the water to test its temperature and were also seen inspecting weeping fig trees for suitability in the shoot.
PHOTO: COURTESY OF FOX MOVIES 照片：福斯提供
Lee plans to spend two weeks in Kenting shooting the scenes where Pi gets washed ashore. He joked, “Kenting looks more like Mexico than Mexico. It’s got some weird trees and looks very interesting. Nearer the time we’ll just need to find some Mexicans to play the fishermen who find Pi.”
Locals spotted an Indian actor and several foreign crewmembers snorkeling and discussing the beach near to a holiday resort on Kenting’s west coast. They appeared satisfied with the suitability of the beach.
Seventeen-year-old Indian student Suraj Sharma was chosen in October from over 3,000 hopefuls to play the lead role of Pi Patel. He lives with his parents in Bangalore and has no previous acting experience.
Sharma’s classmate, Ishan Shivakumar, told the Times of India that they watched Lee’s Hulk as kids and first became aware of homosexuality when they saw Brokeback Mountain. In the movie Sharma will have to speak Indian English, French and Tamil and will also have to narrate short passages in Koranic Arabic and Sanskrit.
Kenting has been abuzz with excitement since the news broke that it would be used as a location in an Ang Lee movie. Locals hope that by giving the natural beauty of Hengchun Peninsula international exposure, the movie will prove to be an even bigger money-spinner than Cape No. 7.
(LIBERTY TIMES, TRANSLATED BY TAIJING WU)
國際知名的台灣導演李安最近決定以南部的墾丁當作新片拍攝場景之一。
導演李安最進籌備拍攝小說「少年Pi的奇幻漂流」所改編的電影，影片男主角少年Pi因船難在海上漂流二百二十七天，最後在墨西哥登陸，墾丁因為和墨西哥地貌相似而中選。電影將於二零一二年十二月十四日發行。
上週六民眾目擊劇組人員在恆春半島勘景，除了在西海岸的一處飯店沙灘浮潛試水溫，還到東海岸勘景，看當地的白榕是否合適。
李安計畫在墾丁以兩週時間拍攝登陸戲份，他曾笑言：「墾丁比墨西哥還像墨西哥，那邊還有一些怪樹，看起來很有趣。到時再找幾個墨西哥人飾演發現少年Pi的漁民就好了。」
有民眾目擊疑似男主角的印籍男子，以及大批的外籍工作人員，在墾丁西海岸的渡假村附近浮潛，並在沙灘上討論，似乎對該處沙灘頗為滿意。
將飾演男主角Pi Patel的演員，蘇拉吉‧夏瑪，十月底才從三千多位競爭者中脫穎而出。是位今年十七歲的印度學生。他與雙親同住班加羅爾，之前毫無演出的經驗。
蘇拉吉‧夏瑪同學，伊山‧希法顧瑪接受《印度時報》訪問時表示，他們小時後就看過李安執導的「綠巨人浩克」，且看了「斷背山」後才知道世界上有同性戀。為了影片內容需求，夏瑪將以印度口音說英語、法語，以及塔米爾語，並得以阿拉伯語跟梵文朗讀文章片段。
自從李安宣布將在墾丁取景，地方居民興奮不已，期盼創造比「海角七號」更驚人的成績，讓恆春半島的美景在國際上露臉。
（自由時報記者蔡宗憲、鄒念祖）
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