Though “Black Swan” elevated Darren Aronofsky from talented arthouse director to a helmer with box office clout and awards season cachet, that doesn’t necessarily make a film like “Noah” any easier to finance. Announced as a strong candidate for his next film, the project has been in the works since at least 2007 and earlier in the year, it was revealed that Aronofsky was collaborating with comic book artist Nico Henrichon on a graphic novel take on the tale to spur interest in feature adaptation. Well, the gambit worked. The $130 million dollar film already has New Regency staking half of the cost and should this bit of casting come though, expect Paramount, Fox and Summit to start falling all over each other for the opportunity to pay the rest of the bills.
Vulture reports that recent Oscar winner Christian Bale is in talks for the lead role in “Noah.” This isn’t the first time Aronofsky and Bale have been linked, as the director was involved in the early stages of “The Fighter” before leaving the production and being replaced by David O. Russell. And the rest, as they say, is history. But it seems the two got on, and a Bale/Aronofsky pairing sounds very exciting.
Of course, should Bale sign the film wouldn’t likely to shoot until very late this year or in early 2012. The actor will be busy with Christopher Nolan in “The Dark Knight Rises” for much of the remainder of 2011, but joining “Noah” would undoubtedly assure studios of a strong foreign box office and big star to drive the Biblical film — a genre which can be a tricky sell. At the very least, we know Bale can grow one helluva beard and if the actor is manning the ship as the flood waters rise, we’ll gladly come aboard.