Pen To Paper: Life Of Pi gets a director and Buffy gets busy

Alien: Resurrection helmer Jean-Pierre Jeunet has signed up to direct the adaptation of Yann Martel’s Booker Prize-winning novel Life Of Pi, about a 16-year-old boy travelling on board a tanker that’s ferrying animals bound for a zoo from India to Canada. When the ship sinks, the lad is left floating on a raft with a hyena, an injured zebra and a hungry tiger. Production kicks off next summer, with Jeunet splitting writing duties with Guillaume Laurant, his collaborator on Amelie and A Very Long Engagement.

Ex-vampire trampler Sarah Michelle Gellar will star with Diego Luna (Y Tu Mama Tambien) and Ken Watanabe (Batman Begins) in indie flick The Air I Breathe. The crime drama is based on the concept that life is split into four important factors: happiness, pleasure, sorrow and love. Korean director Jieho Lee, previously known for his acclaimed Sundance short A Nursery Tale, is on lens duties and starts shooting in Mexico City in January.