So it looks like Darren Aronofsky is finally going to get that big budget film that has eluded him his entire professional career. Fresh off his Academy Award nominated Black Swan, Aronofsky flirted with directing The Wolverine, based on the Marvel Comics character, but what he'll instead take on is a hero of a totally different sort as his long gestating Biblical epic, Noah, is finally ready to go.
Deadline confirms the film, which of course follows the guy with the Ark and the animals and flooding and stuff, has finally been given the greenlight by New Regency and Paramount. Once envisioned for a spring start, production will kick off in July. The uber popular John Logan(Hugo, Rango) wrote the latest draft of the script, initially written by Aronofsky himself.
Russell Crowe is also officially set for the lead role, after Christian Bale and Michael Fassbender had been in talks for it in the beginning stages. One of the reasons the project has been delayed so long was that the studio wanted a bankable star to front the expensive venture, and Crowe fits the bill. Now it just remains to be seen if Liam Neeson will come aboard in the villain role, as has been speculated for weeks now.
