After Passion of the Christ, you may have thought the age of the biblical epic film was over. Nope. Here's the first official trailer for Darren Aronofsky's Noah, a major motion picture about the flood that swept the earth clean of evil. Check it out:
It's a little jarring to see Russell Crowe, Jennifer Connelly, Anthony Hopkins, and Emma Watson — all Caucasians employing British accents — tell the story of Middle Eastern people. You could argue that it's even odder with this particular ancient tale because Japheth, one of Noah's sons, is the biblical father of the Europeans. His father was essentially raceless.
AdvertisementADVERTISEMENT
Then again, fealty to the original story isn't exactly Aronofsky's goal. He's said that the film is less about the classical teachings of the biblical narrative and more "about environmental apocalypse" because "Noah was the first environmentalist." After reading a draft of the script, Christian screenwriter Brian Godawa even called Aronofsky an "environmentalist wacko."
Paramount, which is financing the film, is allegedly not so happy with the green angle because it would prefer a picture it can market to faith-based audiences. In fact, the Hollywood Reporter wrote last month that the company had sparred over final cut with the director because "test screenings of various versions [produced] worrisome results."
Worrisome it may be, but at least it looks great. The film costs a reported $125 million and is one of the most complicated rendering projects that effects company Industrial Light and Magic has ever done.
Noah is slated to hit theaters in March 2014.