After losing Christian Bale and then courting Michael Fassbender, Darren Aronofsky was forced to settle on Russell Crowe to lead his upcoming, big budget biblical epic, Noah. Oh, it must have been tough having to sink so low. After a couple of months negotiating, Aronofsky finally has his man as Crowe has officially come aboard.
With filming set to begin this July for a March 28th 2014 release, they'll need to get moving wrapping up the other roles for the film, which of course tells the story of Noah and the ark and the animals and the flooding. To me, it's always been the stuff of childish fantasy, but the story of Noah's Ark is one of the most beloved in all of the Bible, mainly because it's fairly easy to follow. Man sucks, commits a world full of sin, and God says "to Hell with that shit" and sends a massive flash flood to wipe 'em all out so he can start over. Liam Neeson has been mentioned as a possibility to play the "villain" of the piece, while Jennifer Connelly and Saoirse Ronan are circling roles as well. The latest draft of the script comes from John Logan, who is very familiar with Crowe as the writer of Gladiator.
Filming will take place in New York and Iceland, neither of which are in the Bible to the best of my knowledge. I wanted Aronofsky to direct The Wolverine as much as anybody, but as cool as that would have been, it's much more exciting to see him tackling a passion project such as this. [THR]
