The golden age of the Cecil B DeMille-style biblical epic may have ended more than half a century ago, but nobody seems to have told Darren Aronofsky. The writer-director behind Requiem for a Dream, The Wrestler and Black Swan has been evangelising about his plans for Noah, starring Russell Crowe as everyone's fave antediluvian patriarch, for a number of years. The film is not due to hit cinemas until at least March 2014, but in the meantime here's our first look at the Australian actor in full costume, via an official image that has just hit the web.
Those who had hoped to see Crowe as Noah cheerfully nestling among a gaggle of mongooses, meerkats and spider-monkeys on board his famous ark will be disappointed to note that there is not a critter in sight, let alone two of each kind. Nor is there any sign that Aronofsky plans to play this one for laughs, à la Steve Carell's Evan Almighty from 2007. Crowe's grizzled, resigned countenance seems to confirm that Noah will be a stark and serious examination of the story.
Aronofsky told my colleague Ryan Gilbey in 2007 that he saw Noah as a "dark, complicated character" with "real survivor's guilt". That should give Crowe plenty to chew over in a role that Michael Fassbender and Christian Bale reportedly turned down. Will they be crying into their champagne come Oscars night 2015, or is this one set to surpass even The Fountain as Aronofsky's top career grande folie, a giant fantasy egg for Hollywood to gnash its teeth and wring its hands over for many years to come?
The religious epic will also star Sir Anthony Hopkins as Methuselah, Crowe's famously long-lived grandfather, with Jennifer Connelly as his wife Naameh and Ray Winstone as villain Tubal-Cain. Yes there's a bad guy in Noah, and that's not all. According to one report, Aronofksy has also introduced giant, menacing six-armed angels called Watchers into the mix. Crowe might struggle to keep that straight face ...
