Pi

The DVD cover of Pi.

Pi [1] is a 1998 psychological thriller movie written and directed by Darren Aronofsky, who is also known for directing "Requiem For A Dream"[2]. Aronofsky was such a fan of Lost, he had his agents ask if he could direct an episode.[3] According to Damon Lindelof, Aronofsky was originally slated to direct the episode called "?" because "We thought it would be a cool shout-out to him since he made the movie Pi, which was just the symbol for pi." [4] Unfortunately, Aronofsky had to cancel directing the episode due to his wife Rachel Weisz's pregnancy.[5] They had hoped to be able to get Aronofsky back to direct an episode in the near future, but in the April 17, 2009 Lostpedia interview, they said:

“	At one time, we came very close to having Darren Aronofsky direct an episode of Lost and that was very exciting to us. But, the truth is, movie directors are focused on their movie careers and it was no different with Darren when it all came down to it. His obligations to his various movies precluded him from actually coming to Hawaii and shooting the show. And I think that now the ship has sort of sailed, going into the last season of the show, we dont feel it's really the time or place to be engaged in sort of artful diversion. We're really gonna focus on finishing out our narrative, and the episodes, by-and-large, will be directed by the directors who have brought us this far successfully with the series, principally Jack Bender. We are very thrilled to be heading into the home stretch, and we're going to be doing that with our regular collaborators.	”
—Carlton Cuse, The Lostpedia Interview:Carlton Cuse & Damon Lindelof

Parallels to Lost

• In the opening scene, we are introduced to the main character, Max, with a close-up shot of his opening eye.
• The storyline features a search for a 216-digit number, and 216 is exactly double that of 108, the sum of Lost's Numbers.
• The recurrent appearance of a mysterious number set everywhere (in the movie, the Fibonacci series, on the show, The Numbers)
  • It is worth noting, however, that the Fibonacci series is observable in many places in nature, whereas the numbers are not.
  • Another difference is that the Fibonacci series is an infinite series of numbers, as opposed to six.
• One character's obsession with the numbers and the idea that figuring them out will reveal a great truth (in the movie, neurotic mathematician Max Cohen, on the show, Hurley). Cohen is another name for an Aaronite which is a priestly descendant of Aaron, brother of Moses. Aaron is also the name of Claire's son.
• Strong religious imagery, fantasies, and sequences with a hallucinatory feel in both.
• Central to both plots is the repeated use of a board game that uses black and white pieces to illustrate principles of life (Go in the movie, backgammon on the show).

External links

• Wikipedia article
• Entertainment Weekly
  • Darren Aronofsky will direct Lost - October 26, 2005
  • Lost: Aronofsky will not direct - March 3, 2006
• IMDB Entry