Russell Crowe NoahHere is our first look at one of the most anticipated films of next year, with Russell Crowe taking a turn against a storm of literally biblical proportions.

That Aronofsky chose to set out to make a film on such a grand scale following his provocative horror film Black Swan is an indication of his grand ambition. Critically the director is beloved, the casts he attracts show in what high esteem he is held by his peers (in this film alone we have Jennifer Connelly, Ray Winstone, Emma Watson and Logan Lerman among others), and his success in creating films of such mesmeric quality is becoming his trademark.

That Noah will be a divisive film is almost assured as the tagline makes reference to this as a historical film so we’ll see how that conversation goes as we get closer to release date. Divisions are already reported to exist between director and studio on the final cut of the film, but

When the picture of the Ark was tweeted many months ago the sheer scale of the project was clear, and with this first footage (a tease for a full trailer expected within the next 24 hours) shows that scale perfectly. Check back tomorrow for more of the same, until then here’s the new poster for the film.

Click it and it’ll grow.

Noah poster