Jean-Pierre Jeunet (Amelie) has beaten M. Night Shyamalan to land the director's chair for Life Of Pi, an adaptation of Yann Martel's Booker Prize-winning novel.
"So many filmmakers were passionate about this book but we felt a responsibility to the material to wait for the right one at the right time," Elizabeth Gabler, president of Fox 2000, told Empire.
Life Of Pi is the everyday tale of a young boy's ill-fated sea voyage from India to Canada, where he ends up sharing a lifeboat with a group of animals including an orangutan and a Bengal tiger.
The French director is currently working on a script with Guilluame Laurant (Amelie and A Very Long Engagement) with views to shooting early next year.