Who is the tiger in life of pi

Putting a teenage boy and an adult Bengal tiger together in an enclosed space, such as the 20-foot lifeboat that is one of the few settings of "Life of Pi," is a dangerous proposition. So it shouldn't come as a surprise that 17-year-old star Suraj Sharma, who played Pi, was never actually in the boat with a live tiger.

"No, that never happened," Sharma told NextMovie of sharing the boat. Instead, he studied his massive, furry co-stars in their cages, and watched videos of their movement online. "I would watch them be trained and stuff like that."

"We didn't want our actor to get eaten," visual effects supervisor Bill Westenhofer told the New York Times."

Four real tigers were used in the production, for reference and motion capture, as well as for actual pivotal scenes. Including footage of actual tigers forced the effects team to make their digital tigers look realistic enough so as to be indistinguishable from the actual tigers.

"It set our bar high for CGI," Westenhofer said. "We couldn't cheat at all. It pushed the artists to go and deliver something that's never been done before, something as photo-real as anyone has ever done with an animal."

For example, for a scene in which the tiger, Richard Parker, swims in the water and can't get back onto the boat without Pi's help, a real tiger was used. In a scene where Richard Parker swipes at Pi from under a tarp, digital effects were used.

"You can't film it for real," director Ang Lee said in a making-of  featurette of the need for a CGI tiger.

Watch a production featurette all about Richard Parker, below.

Incident with King the tiger during Ang Lee's Oscar-winning production one of many flagged up in alarming investigation of animal protection monitoring in Hollywood

The Bengal tiger used in the Oscar-winning film Life of Pi almost drowned on set in an incident subsequently covered up by the US body charged with ensuring animal safety in Hollywood, according to a new report.

An American Humane Association (AHA) official revealed the near-disaster in an email leaked as part of an extensive Hollywood Reporter investigation into the film industry's treatment of animals.

"Last week we almost fucking killed King in the water tank," wrote monitor Gina Johnson. "This one take with him went really bad and he got lost trying to swim to the side. Damn near drowned." She added: "I think this goes without saying but don't mention it to anyone, especially the office! I have downplayed the fuck out of it."

Johnson's email raises concerns because the AHA is the organisation charged with issuing the coveted "no animals were harmed in the making of this picture" stamp that adorns most Hollywood films. The Hollywood Reporter's investigation alleges officials are too close to the film industry they are supposed to be vetting, and that the label is often unfairly awarded.

According to the report, Life of Pi, which won four Oscars earlier this year, was allowed to continue to use the "no animals" credit despite the fact that the AHA subsequently became aware of the email, and despite allegations that Johnson was engaged in an intimate relationship with one of the film's producers. King was used for scenes in Life of Pi where the CGI version of the Bengal tiger, which is named Richard Parker, was not deemed suitable.

Twentieth Century Fox, the studio behind Life of Pi, denied that King the tiger had come close to death during the production of Ang Lee's 3D spectacular. "The tiger, King, was never harmed and did not 'nearly drown' during the production," a spokesman told the Hollywood Reporter. "We take on-set safety very seriously and take every precaution necessary to ensure that no one – animal or human – is harmed during the production of our films."

The AHA is also alleged to have failed in its duty to protect animals on the set of Peter Jackson's Hobbit trilogy in 2012. Animal handlers, backed by People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (Peta), at the time accused Jackson's production company of responsibility for the reported deaths of 27 horses, goats, chicken and sheep, mainly because, while not being filmed, the creatures were allegedly kept at a farm filled with bluffs, sinkholes and other "death traps". The AHA said in the wake of the revelations that it only had control of animal safety while filming was taking place.

The Hollywood Reporter alleged that a number of other incidents on films monitored by the association led to the deaths or injuries of animals. Documents claimed: a husky dog was repeatedly punched in its diaphragm during filming of 2006 Disney adventure movie Eight Below after getting into a fight with another canine; a chipmunk was killed after being dropped during the production of Sarah Jessica Parker comedy Failure to Launch, which was released the same year; and two horses died on the set of children's film Flicka in 2005. The incidents were all ruled to be accidents – in the case of Failure to Launch, the AHA said the incident occurred after filming – and the "no animals were harmed" label was not awarded. But the movies were still able to use the credit "American Humane Association monitored the animal action".

In an ongoing court case brought by Hollywood production co-ordinator Barbara Casey, it is alleged that a horse died during the filming of Steven Spielberg's War Horse, but the fatality was covered up to avoid embarrassment.

According to the Hollywood Reporter, AHA "distorts its film ratings, downplays or fails to publicly acknowledge harmful incidents and sometimes doesn't seriously pursue investigations".

In a statement, the association said it did not recognise the report's findings. "Regrettably, there have even been some deaths, which upset us greatly," the statement read. "But in many of the cases reported, they had nothing to do with the animals' treatment on set, or occurred when the animals were not under our care."

Referring specifically to Casey's War Horse allegation, the AHA said the horse in question died of natural causes "in transit home". It added: "We absolutely and categorically deny the sensationalist, misleading and untrue allegations. We look forward to vigorously defending ourselves through the proper legal channels."

The court hearing is scheduled for March 2014.

{{#ticker}}

{{topLeft}}

{{bottomLeft}}

{{topRight}}

{{bottomRight}}

{{#goalExceededMarkerPercentage}}{{/goalExceededMarkerPercentage}}

{{.}}

We will be in touch to remind you to contribute. Look out for a message in your inbox in . If you have any questions about contributing, please contact us.

Topics

• Action and adventure films

• Family films
• Ang Lee
• Film industry
• Animal welfare
• Animals
• news

View commentsView on theguardian.com

{{#showContent}}

{{#description}}{{/description}}{{#content}}{{#headline}}

{{#isComment}}{{/isComment}}

{{#description}}{{/description}}{{#content}}{{#headline}}

{{#isComment}}{{/isComment}}

{{#description}}{{/description}}{{#content}}{{#headline}}

{{#isComment}}{{/isComment}}

{{#description}}{{/description}}{{#content}}{{#headline}}

{{#isComment}}{{/isComment}}