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Ang Lee's latest project is his most ambitious yet.
Life of Pi uses sophisicated digital techniques in 3D to create one of the year's most visually breath-taking films.
But at the UK premiere Lee told Reuters he doubted at times whether he could even complete it.
(SOUNDBITE) Director Ang Lee saying (English):
"Three to five times a day. Constantly. There are a couple of moments I thought this thing might collapse and it's better to drop it now than continue, it's disastrous. But, like Pi's journey, you can't think that way more than one day. The next day you must come up and find a solution."
Life of Pi is based upon author Yann Martel's best-selling novel.
It tells the story of Pi Patel, an Indian teenager who becomes shipwrecked with an aggressive Bengal tiger named Richard Parker.
Playing Pi is 17-year-old Suraj Sharma.
Despite not being able to swim and having never acted before, he was chosen to appear alongside a ferocious digital animal he couldn't even see.
(SOUNDBITE) Actor Suraj Sharma saying (English):
"I mean I know it's strange to think of like that but I felt that Richard Parker was there you know because every day of shooting I had to keep him in mind every time I got in the boat, I had to keep in mind that there's a tiger on the boat also."
(SOUNDBITE) Director Ang Lee saying (English):
"I trust instinct. When I saw him I thought 'I see Pi.' And that's instinct you have to trust. And of course, being a seasoned film maker, I tested him and he's an incredible, incredible talent."
Conquering his doubts could prove the best decision Lee ever made.
He won Academy Awards for Brokeback Mountain in 2006 and Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon in 2001.
Industry whispers already suggest the film once considered impossible could bring him a third.
