Tobey Maguire Replaced In Ang Lee's 'Life Of Pi'

Tobey Maguire, 37, isn't having the best of years. First Baz Luhrmann's The Great Gatsby, in which Maguire plays narrator and best friend to Leonardo DiCaprio's Jay Gatsby, Nick Carraway, was pushed from its pre-Christmas release date — a time period that virtually ensures Oscar recognition — to some as-yet undetermined date in the summer of 2013, and now his brief role in Ang Lee's adaptation of Life of Pi has been recast with Prometheus' Rafe Spall.

"To be consistent with the other casting choices made for the film, I decided to go with an entirely international cast," said director Lee (Brokeback Mountain; The Ice Storm; Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon; Sense and Sensibility) about the decision to recast Maguire's character — Life of Pi author Yann Martel, who frames certain scenes in the narrative, according to The Hollywood Reporter. "I very much admire Tobey and look forward to working with him again in the future," Lee added.

Apparently there are no hard feelings on Maguire's part, whose relationship with Lee goes back to 1997's The Ice Storm. "I fully support Ang's decision to go a different direction for this role in Life of Pi," said Maguire in his own statement. "Ang shared a lot of the film with me, and what I saw was absolutely beautiful," he said.

Life of Pi is due in theaters on November 21, 2012.

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