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Noah is a 2014 American biblical epic film directed by Darren Aronofsky, written by Aronofsky
and Ari Handel, and is based on the story of Noah's Ark. The
film stars Russell Crowe as Noah along with Jennifer Connelly, Ray Winstone,
Emma Watson, Logan Lerman, Anthony Hopkins, and Douglas Booth. It is set to be released
in North American theaters on March 28, 2014 in 2-D and IMAX while several countries
will release the film in 3-D and IMAX 3D. The biblical Noah sees visions of an apocalyptic
deluge and takes measures to protect his family from the coming flood by building an ark.
Aronofsky first discussed Noah with The Guardian in April 2007, telling the paper that the
figure of Noah had fascinated him since he was thirteen years old. Aronofsky explained
that he saw Noah as "a dark, complicated character" who experiences "real survivor's
guilt" after the flood. Aronofsky was working on early drafts of the script for Noah around
the time his first attempt to make The Fountain fell through when actor
Brad Pitt left the project. Ari Handel – Aronofsky's collaborator on
The Fountain, The Wrestler and Black Swan – helped Aronofsky develop the script.
Before they found financial backing for Noah, they collaborated with Canadian artist Niko
Henrichon to adapt the script into a graphic novel. The first volume of
the graphic novel was released in the French language by Belgian publisher
Le Lombard in October 2011 under the title Noé: Pour la cruauté des hommes (Noah: For
the Cruelty of Men). After the creation of the graphic novel, Aronofsky
struck a deal with Paramount and New Regency to produce a
feature film of Noah with a budget of $130 million.[6][23] Screenwriter John Logan was
called in to re-draft the script alongside Aronofsky, but is not
credited for his contributions. In October 2012, Emma Watson commented on
the setting of the film: "I think what Darren's going for is a sense that it could be set
in any time. It could be set sort of like a thousand years in
the future or a thousand years in the past. [...] You shouldn't be able to place it too
much."
Aronofsky had previously offered the role of Noah to Christian Bale and Michael Fassbender,
both of whom declined. Bale went on to star as Moses in Ridley Scott's
upcoming religious epic film Exodus. Dakota Fanning was originally cast in the
role of Ila, but departed due to a scheduling conflict.
Julianne Moore was also considered for the role of Naameh.
Liam Neeson, Liev Schreiber and Val Kilmer were also considered for the part of Tubal-cain,
but Aronofsky reportedly wanted an actor "with the grit and size to be convincing as he goes
head-to-head against Crowe's Noah character".
Principal photography began in July 2012, in Dyrhólaey, Fossvogur, Reynisfjara and
other locations in Southern Iceland. Filming also took place in New York state.
A set representing Noah's Ark was built at the Planting Fields Arboretum in Upper Brookville,
New York. In September 2012, while on break from a location on Long Island, Russell Crowe
and a friend, both of whom had been kayaking for several hours, were rescued by
the Coast Guard near Cold Spring Harbor. Production was put on hold while Hurricane
Sandy subjected New York to heavy rain and flooding during late October 2012.
Regarding the film's extensive use of visual effects, Aronofsky said he and his crew "had
to create an entire animal kingdom", using no real animals in the production but
instead "slightly tweaked" versions of real creatures.
Industrial Light and Magic said their work on the film represented "the most complicated
rendering in the company's history".
The musical score for Noah was composed by Clint Mansell,
who scored the music for all of Aronofsky's previous feature films and is performed by
Kronos Quartet. A soundtrack album is scheduled to be released
by Nonesuch Records on March 26, 2014.
The president of the National Religious Broadcasters stated that the Noah film includes "major
biblical themes" including "sin, judgment, righteousness, and
God as Creator." In addition, the film promotes the concept of evolutionary creation.
Ari Handel, the scriptwriter for the Noah film stated that “The story of Noah starts
with this concept of strong justice, that the wickedness of man will soon be met
with justice, and it ends when the rainbow comes and it says, even though
the heart of man is filled with wickedness, I will never again destroy the world...So
it ends with this idea of mercy. God somehow goes from this idea of judging
the wickedness to mercy and grace. So we decided that was a powerful and emotional
arc to go through, and we decided to give that arc to Noah.”
The film received generally positive reviews from critics. It currently has a 78% rating
on Rotten Tomatoes based on 18 reviews. Movieline's Pete Hammond said that "It stays
with you long after you leave the theatre. This 'Noah' is unlike any other film of its
kind - an intimate and stirring new take on a biblical
story we only thought we knew." Steven D. Greydanus from the National Catholic
Register wrote that "It is something more vital, surprising and confounding:
a work of art and imagination that makes this most familiar of tales strange and new: at
times illuminating the text, at times stretching it to the breaking point,
at times inviting cross-examination and critique." The movie also had less favorable reviews.
IndieWire claimed "Aronofsky's worst movie is an epic misfire that,
like the source material, offers plenty of lessons even if you don't buy the whole package."
The Wrap called the film "Darren Aronofsky's Biblical 'Waterworld.'
Producer Scott Franklin told Entertainment Weekly, "Noah is a very short section of the
Bible with a lot of gaps, so we definitely had to take some creative
expression in it. But I think we stayed very true to the story and didn't really deviate
from the Bible, despite the six-armed angels." Several
Christian organizations have expressed support for the Noah film,
"including Leaders from organizations like the American Bible Society, National Catholic
Register, The King's College, Q Ideas, Hollywood Prayer Network, and Focus
on the Family". Focus on the Family president Jim Daly stated that: "
is a creative interpretation of the scriptural account that allows us to imagine the deep
struggles Noah may have wrestled with as he answered God’s call on his life.
This cinematic vision of Noah’s story gives Christians a great opportunity to engage
our culture with the biblical Noah, and to have conversations with friends and family
about matters of eternal significance" In March 2014, Paramount attached a disclaimer
to some of its advertising: "The film is inspired by the story of Noah.
While artistic license has been taken, we believe that this
film is true to the essence, values and integrity of a story that is a cornerstone of faith
for millions of people worldwide. The biblical story of
Noah can be found in the book of Genesis." Pope Francis was reported to have given the
film the Vatican's blessing after meeting briefly with Russell Crowe
In the previous year, "worrisome" feedback from largely religious audiences at test screenings
in October 2013 led The Hollywood Reporter to report on tensions
between Aronofsky and Paramount over control of the final cut.
Aronofsky said that he was very unhappy with Paramount testing alternate versions of Noah
that were not 'true to his vision': "I was upset - of course. No one has ever
done that to me. I imagine if I made comedies and horror films, it would be helpful.
In dramas, it's very, very hard to do. I've never been open to it. I don't believe that."
After much discussion and compromise, the studio announced on February 12 that Darren
Aronofsky's version, not any of the studio's alternate versions, will be the final cut
of Noah. "They tried what they wanted to try, and eventually
they came back. My version of the film hasn't been tested...
It's what we wrote and what was greenlighted," Aronofsky said. It will not be test screened
until post production is finished, as per Aronofsky's wishes. In
a survey conducted on February 17, 2014 showed that 98% of the members
of Faith Driven Consumer, a Christian church organization, are "not satisfied with Hollywood's
take on religious stories such as "Noah"". However, the survey was given
to people who had not actually seen the film and were voting based on
speculation. Paramount criticised Variety for their "inaccurate" report on their survey
conduction. In the film's defense, the studio unveiled new survey studies
from Nielsen's National Research Group and The Barna Group that 83%
of "very religious" film-goers are interested in the film, while "86% of Christian respondents
who are aware of the film said they would recommend 'Noah' to their
friends."
The film was banned in Pakistan, Bahrain, Qatar, UAE and Indonesia prior to its release
as the local government said that it contradicts the teaching of Islam.
Later that day a representative of Paramount Pictures confirmed
the news by saying "Censors for Qatar, Bahrain and the UAE officially confirmed this week
that the film will not release in their countries". The film was
also banned in Egypt as it violates Islamic law and could "provoke
the feelings of believers." In Islamic tradition, the portrayal of prophets like Noah is forbidden.
Filmmaker Darren Aronofsky has wanted to make a big screen adaptation of the Biblical story
of Noah for a long, long time. With a massive hit on his hands with Black
Swan, the director finally had the clout necessary to get a big studio to sign
off on his ambitious vision, and thus Noah was born with Paramount backing the project.
The film went through a relatively smooth shoot, but late last year we learned
that Paramount was worried about how Aronofsky’s vision for the film would go
over with audiences and had decided to start test screening its own cuts of the film. Unsurprisingly,
Aronofsky was none too pleased that unapproved rough cuts of
his film were screening for audiences, and we were left to wonder whether the
finished product would truly be the filmmaker’s passion project as intended or a compromise
of sorts with the studio. Luckily it looks like it will be the former,
as a new profile of the film in THR reveals that Aronofsky’s cut will be
the version released. Hit the jump for more, including plenty of comments from Aronofsky
himself.
As part of a very revealing and fascinating profile in THR (which confirms the film’s
2 hours and 12 minutes runtime), the post-production battle over Noah has now
become a bit more clear. Apparently, Paramount became
worried about how audiences would react to a decidedly artistic take on the material
during post-production (what else do you expect when you hire Darren
Aronofsky?), so they settled on crafting different cuts of the
film to screen for test audiences. Speaking with the outlet, Aronofsky admitted that he
wasn’t happy about the decision:
“I was upset – of course. No one’s ever done that to me… I imagine if I made comedies
and horror films, [test screenings] would be helpful,” he
says. “In dramas, it’s very, very hard to do. I’ve never been open
to it.” The studio also insisted that test audiences are sophisticated enough to evaluate
movies without finished effects in place. “I don’t believe
that,” he says.
The results of the test screenings were not exactly enthusiastic, as Paramount began hearing
complaints from religious viewers expecting a more literal adaptation
of the story. Paramount vice chair Rob Moore discussed some of the studio’s
qualms about the film:
One worry, says Moore, was that “significantly conservative folks who have a more literal
expectation” from a movie about Noah might turn against
it and become hostile. “There are some people where it’s a
very emotional experience of, ‘Whoa, whoa, whoa — a Hollywood studio is trying to tell
a story from my faith, and I am skeptical,’ ” he says. “Not
necessarily 50 percent of the people, but maybe 10 or 20 percent. And those
people can be very noisy.”
Though Paramount did learn a few key things from their test screening process, namely
clarifying that the characters played by Emma Watson and Logan Lerman are
married, other complaints were difficult or impossible to address.
Some simply had incorrect recollections of the flood story, finding the film’s Noah
too conflicted and objecting to a scene in which the character gets drunk—which
is straight from the Bible. In the end, though, Paramount’s cuts of
the film tested no better than they had hoped, and the finished product
will indeed be the filmmaker’s iteration of the project:
“They tried what they wanted to try, and eventually they came back. My version of the
film hasn’t been tested … It’s what we wrote and what was greenlighted.”
Aronofsky goes on to say that he hopes all audiences will give the pic a fair shot:
“For people who are very literal-minded, it would be great to communicate that the
themes of the film are very much in line with the themes of the Bible — ideas
about hope, second chances and family. If they allow that, they’re going
to have an incredible experience with the movie. If they don’t allow it, it’s theirs
to lose.” Passion projects are tricky for any filmmaker
to pull off, mostly because they’ve been obsessing over the details for
years and find it hard to perfectly execute this very specific vision. Hopefully Aronofsky
has put together the project that he intended to make at the outset. We’ll
all find out together when Noah opens in theaters on March 28th.
Head over to THR to read the full profile, which is full of fascinating tidbits.
One of the reasons Darren Aronofsky reportedly signed on to do The Wolverine is because he
wanted a blockbuster hit that he could leverage to make personal projects
that required a larger budget than his past work. Then he dropped
off that film for personal reasons, but perhaps Black Swan grossing $315 million worldwide
off a $13 million budget also had something to do with it. Now that
he has that success (along with a Best Director Oscar nomination) to his
credit, Aronofsky has more clout and it looks like he’s using it to try and get Noah off
the ground.
In February, we reported that Aronofsky was going to tell the story of the Bible’s Noah
by creating a graphic novel with artist Nico Henrichon. Now John
Logan is re-writing the film’s script and various studios are getting
interested in co-financing the ambitious project. Hit the jump for more details.
Deadline reports that New Regency is interested in co-financing the film with Fox, Paramount,
and Summit individually considering if they want to take on the other
half of the film’s proposed $130 million budget. The project has been
described as a “big fantasy epic”, but Aronofsky has personally talked about the
darkness in the movie that usually doesn’t lend itself to big-budget flicks.
While the timely environmental themes could work (Aronofsky described Noah as
“the first environmentalist”), the director also says that Noah has some serious survivor’s
guilt and that “He’s a dark, complicated character.”
Aronofsky came close to directing another biblical epic, Exodus (previously titled Moses),
about the story of Moses, but he reportedly wants to make Noah, a film
he’s been dreaming of since he was thirteen, his next movie. Hopefully
his dream comes true and we get to see Aronofsky work on his biggest canvas yet.
Paramount has reached out to inform us that Noah has not moved off its March date after
all, and a mixup on their website led to the confusion. Our original story follows
below, but Noah will still be hitting theaters on March 28, 2014.
As you were.
It looks like we’ll have to wait just a little bit longer to see director Darren Aronofsky’s
iteration of the Great Flood. Paramount announced today that the Black Swan director’s biblical
epic Noah has been delayed from its March 28, 2014 release date to an undisclosed summer
date. The push is likely due to the film’s extensive
visual effects, as Aronofsky’s vision of the tale
involves 11-foot-tall fallen angels called Watchers. It’s also possible that Paramount
feels the tentpole will do better in the midst of the
summer movie season. Whatever the case, I’m really looking forward to this one.
There's a battle of biblical proportions brewing between the industry trade publication Variety
and the movie studio behind the upcoming film, “Noah.”
A Variety report surfaced citing a survey of religious moviegoers that seemed to indicate
the faithful would not be flocking to see "Noah," starring Russell Crowe as the
Old Testament hero. But Paramount took the unusual step of releasing a press
release slamming the article as an "inaccurate" distortion.
Variety initially reported that an organization called Faith Driven Consumer conducted a survey
asking for religious moviegoers' thoughts regarding the film that hits theaters
March 28. “As a Faith Driven Consumer,” the survey asked, “are you satisfied with
a biblically themed movie — designed to appeal to you — which replaces the Bible's
core message with one created by Hollywood?”
The report found 98% of the survey respondents were not "satisfied" with Hollywood versions
of biblical stories, and that the results indicated stormy seas
for "Noah." "The survey question that had the 98% response rate did
not contain any reference to the film ‘Noah,’” the studio responded in a statement, “despite
the fact that the Variety reporting implied that it did, and research
from industry leading firms about the upcoming epic paints a very different picture."
Paramount cited another Christian research organization, Barna Group, which found that
86% of respondents who are aware of “Noah” would recommend the film to their friends.
The Barna Group survey also found that the majority of pastors polled would recommend
"Noah" based on the subject matter. Faith Driven Consumer conducted the survey in response
to a story in the Feb. 21 issue of The Hollywood Reporter in which "Noah" director
Darren Aronofsky revealed that he was unhappy that Paramount, the studio producing the
$125 million film, was testing alternate versions with religious audiences in order to appease
a "small but vocal" segment of faith-based viewers. Faith Driven Consumer conducted the
survey over several days and received more than 5,000 responses, according to Variety.
The organization also created the website IStandWithPhil.com, in support of "Duck Dynasty"
star Phil Robertson, after his temporary suspension from his hit A&E reality series.