Some Day A Real Rain Will Come...
Tuesday, June 14, 2011 at 12:12PM 
JA from MNPP here, taking a quick glance at the forward momentum Darren Aronofsky’s next project seems to be gathering – the Black Swan director’s wanted to make a movie about the Biblical story of Noah and his animal-clogged ark since the start of his career and he’s finally got a whole half of the 130 million dollars he seeks.
The other half is expected to sweep in if/when he can get a star attached, and word is that he’s looking for recently Oscar-crowned Christian Bale to fill out Noah’s flowing robes. The part’s obviously a good fit for Bale, who could play this sort of crazed role in his sleep (and probably does). And it’s probably the Aronofsky connection but I can’t help but picture Rachel Weisz as Noah’s wife Naamah; there’s also the matter of their three sons and those son’s wives to be cast. Plus a two-by-two animal chorus of thousands!
Aronofsky’s on the record as saying he sees the story in terms of its environmental aspects:
“It’s the end of the world and it’s the second most famous ship after the Titanic. So I’m not sure why any studio won’t want to make it. I think it’s really timely because it’s about environmental apocalypse which is the biggest theme, for me, right now for what’s going on on this planet. So I think it’s got these big, big themes that connect with us.”
Ha ha smart boy, summoning up the ghost of Cameron's iceberg billions. It is curious to wonder what angle he'll take on the religious aspects of the story - while he's certainly dealt with spirituality before it seems difficult to imagine him making something that would kowtow to fundamentalist Christians that take the Bible literally. There even seems to be an active component of people, where religion and politics meet, that abhor an environmental reading of the Ark story altogether and I cna imagine that they're already sharpening their knives at the thought of it.
Indeed Aronofsky’s such a modern filmmaker in my mind, so focused on the rhythms of the here and the now, that I’m having a hard time wrapping my brain around what it’ll be like to have him plunked down in the leather sandals of ancient allegory. It brings to mind the conquistidor section of The Fountain of course, another passion project for Aronofsky that he got made through much adversity. His will is strong and he’s wanted to make this for so long I have no doubt we’ll see it in some form from the filmmaker.
Christian Bale, Darren Aronofsky
Reader Comments (10)
Duh, they've already done this. It was called Evan Almighty. How does Aronofsky hope to top that masterpiece of American cinema?
I remember reading about all the cost overruns for Evan Almighty. Did it ever make its money back? And that was a comedy - is Aronofsky going to be funnier?
That's how "Water movies" work. They're very expensive to pull off, and a couple have been, by reports on waterworld and having seen Evan Almighty, affronts to taste.
I know Aronfsky's got a great track record thus far - but just because someone wants to do something doesn't mean they should.
I can only see Tommy Lee Jones as Noah. Been that way since I studied the Old Testament in college. Really hope Aronofsky gets this all the way. I'm a sucker for Biblical epics.
I hope Aronofsky gets to make the film he wants to make. Whilst I really like The Fountain, the final budget or vision was nowhere near where he wanted it to be..but then again, you could argue great directors can make smaller budgets go a long way...
@Burning Reels - sometimes (oftentimes, actually) bigger budgets do not make better films (see Baz Luhrmann's "Australian". Or don't rather, and save yourself three hours of boredom.)
Yeah, I agree...for instance I usually find the smaller budget Scorsese films more interesting. It really depends on the director I suppose...but it's an interesting debate.
I don't know... I'm afraid of Aronofsky and big budgets together
If this ever happens, I would watch it in an instant... sounds epic!