`Life of Pi`s` enormous technical challenges

Bill Westenhoffer says that the film was one of the most challenging projects he ever worked on.

London: Bill Westenhoffer, a visual effects supervisor for upcoming movie ‘Life of Pi’, says that the film was one of the most challenging projects he ever worked on.

The movie, based on Yann Martel`s novel of the same name follows the story of a young Indian boy who ends up being shipwrecked in the middle of an ocean, stranded in a life boat with a Tiger. "The challenge is unsurprising when you think about the task the visual effects team had on their shoulders. We couldn`t have a live, blood thirsty tiger around a young boy all day every day filming, so instead we used a mixture of both a real tiger, and a CGI tiger," he said. Director Ang Lee of ‘Brokeback Mountain’ fame has helmed the project. He says that "by bringing in the real animal, you set a standard- this is what you have to match." PTI