Despite the fact that he’s already busy shooting the film in India, Ang Lee is still finding cast members to join his adaptation of Yann Martel’s Life of Pi. And his latest hire is a familiar face for anyone who knows Lee’s back catalogue, as he’s reached out to Tobey Maguire to sign on.

Don’t expect to see an awful lot of the Ice Storm/Ride with the Devil star in Pi, however: Maguire will crop up briefly in the story.

The focus is on a 16-year-old boy (Suraj Sharma) who is crossing the Pacific in anticipation of a new life in America. But when the freighter he’s aboard is shipwrecked, he’s left trying to survive on a life raft with an orang-utan, a hyena and a Bengal tiger.

Pi’s multi-layered story covers several years and part of the tale is narrated by the adult Pi (Irrfan Khan), who tells all to a reporter (Maguire). According to the Hollywood Reporter, the artist formerly known as Spider-Man will only be reporting to set for a few days to film his scenes.

Life of Pi also features Adil Hussain, Tabu and Gerard Depardieu, and will be out on December 14, 2012.