Darren Aronofsky’s big-budget, big-scale follow-up to 2010’s Oscar-winning Black Swan has been developing nicely over the course of the past year. Though casting got off to a bit of a rough start, with Christian Bale having to drop out after early talks, another brilliant and Oscar-winning actor stepped in in his place in the form of Russell Crowe (A Beautiful Mind) for the leading role.
Variety now reports that the lovely Jennifer Connelly, herself an Oscar winner opposite Crowe in Ron Howard’s A Beautiful Mind, is in talks to board the project as Noah’s wife.
The report states that Aronofsky has been courting Connelly for months, and an official offer was finally made yesterday, which is excellent news. If all goes well, she would be re-teaming not just with Crowe, but also with the writer-director, having starred opposite Jared Leto, Ellen Burstyn, and Marlon Wayans in Aronofsky’s Requiem for a Dream.
“In Aronofsky’s take on the Biblical tale, Noah is a man who loves Earth and all of its animal inhabitants, but has become disillusioned with the way humans have treated their planet.”
Ray Winstone has recently boarded the project as the main antagonist, with Emma Watson, Logan Lerman, and Douglas Booth all filling out the younger roles, the latter two playing Noah’s sons.
Aronofsky co-wrote the original script with Ari Handel, who worked on the story for the writer-director’s The Fountain, with John Logan (Gladiator) doing a rewrite.
Noah has already been set for a 28th March, 2014 release in the UK and US, which puts it a week before Captain America 2. Definitely sounds like a great way to get the blockbusters rolling early on in a little under two years’ time. More as we get it.
