Ang Lee's 3-D Vision - NYTimes.com With few bankable stars, the director Ang Lee has been doing many of the press rounds himself for his film "Life of Pi," traversing the globe to promote his 3-D story of a boy, a boat and a tiger. We caught up with Mr. Lee recently at the Apple store in SoHo, where he was due for a Q&A. He had been traveling with the film since its premiere at the New York Film Festival in September, when he admitted to some fatigue. "I thought I was going to get sick," he said, "but I didn't have time." The film wasn't quite finished at its premiere, either. "Well, things don't end at delivery date," Mr. Lee said, cheerfully. I thought that was the finishing line, or the shore where you landed, but after you landed, there is still continents to go through. It's good to meet the audience; you can absorb how they see it. You know, this is not just box office or what have you, it's a tricky movie and you want to get in and get comments. Audiences, he added, often have deep questions, about filmmaking but also about faith. "Questions that ask you: why?" he said. You have to justify why you do things. I want to explain, but I don't really want to explain because I think the inspiring book" - the Yann Martel novel on which the movie is based - "should be inspiring movie. I don't necessarily have all kinds of answers, but I am managing to talk to people. The film is doing well at the box office: nearly $70 million in ticket sales domestically, and an additional $128 million elsewhere, on a production budget estimated at $120 million. Mr. Lee said Asian audiences have reacted differently than others around the globe. "They seem to be really into the third act, the reveal," he said. For the director, making "by far the most visual movie I did" may also change how he works. "I don't know if I go back to 2-D," he said. If I'll see the world different or the same. Once you go through a new media, you're on a test. It's very inspiring. It challenges how you see things. What you think is so solid, so matter-of-factly accurate - new media challenge what seeing is. It's too early to tell if I see things differently from now on or not. Unlike some of his filmmaking colleagues, Mr. Lee was clear about what kind of effect a best-picture nomination or even an Oscar win would have on "Life of Pi." "I think it will have an impact on the business, not just 3-D," he said. "The movie's unusual," he continued. It uses "visual effects as art. You don't really get a chance to do that. It's very expensive. Maybe -" he laughed - "if we don't lose money, it will get encouraged. I think that's a big win, if we win.