Darren Aronofsky‘s “Noah” is riding a rough sea to the box office, with Paramount trying to court and not offend religious audiences, all while Qatar, Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates have banned the film, with Egypt taking that move under consideration (per THR). But despite the grabby headline that makes, Paramount knew those countries—generally more sensitive to religious films—might pose a problem, and the director himself is not worried about any talk about “controversy” surrounding his picture.
“The controversy is all about the unknown and about the fear of people trying to exploit a Bible story,” Aronofsky told Variety. “It will all disappear as soon as people start seeing the film.”
And as we know, the film will be Aronofsky’s cut, though not before he battled somewhat with the studio over the focus and vision of his Biblical tale. Aronofsky went into the production without final cut, a rarity for the filmmaker, and he’s philosophical about the process. “I come from a place where I have very limited resources and I keep making what I have better and better and better,” he shared. “I think Paramount was about just trying everything that was possible. I’m very meticulous in my planning stage so I felt that it wasn’t going to fit together in different ways. The puzzle didn’t work that way, but you do learn things from the process (of not having final cut). It’s just a little bit painful. I’d rather just keep working on something and polishing it more and more.”
We’ll see what kind of polish he was able to bring to “Noah” when it opens on March 28th. So to prepare, here’s a the first clip (via Total Film) and a featurette about the production.