Darren Aronofsky has a lot riding on his upcoming Biblical epic Noah. With a budget of $125 million dollars, and several very large stars attached, expectations are pretty high for the director to deliver something spectacular.
Unfortunately, we really don’t know just yet how this one is going to turn out, due to a severe lack of promotional footage. This is likely due to some complex CGI work being done in post-production but there may be another reason that Paramount isn’t busy marketing the hell out of the film.
According to THR, several cuts of Noah have been screened for test audiences in recent months as the studio is fighting with Aronofsky over which version should be the one released in theatres. Several sources have confirmed this and they go on to report that the director isn’t too open to Paramount’s suggestions for changes.
“Darren is not made for studio films. He’s very dismissive. He doesn’t care about [Paramount’s] opinion,” says an insider.
It’s a bit odd that the studio would bring on a filmmaker like Darren Aronofsky and then give him such a hard time about releasing his own version of the movie. After all, the director’s involvement is a major draw for most people and he’s certainly someone who brings a strong vision to his films and makes them very much his own. Paramount had to have known this, so it’s strange that they’re giving him such a hard time. If you bring on someone like Aronofsky to helm your project, then let him do things his way.
Noah will arrive in theatres on March 28th, 2014. Hopefully in the next few months we’ll start to get a better idea of what kind of film we’ll be getting.