By: Katey Rich

Every time we see a new casting rumor about Noah, it means we’re one step closer to actually seeing Darren Aronofsky’s Biblical epic, his follow-up to Black Swan that will tell the famous story of Noah and the great, world-ending flood. We know that Russell Crowe will be playing Noah, and thanks to a few recent updates we know that Logan Lerman and Douglas Booth will play the title character’s sons, and Emma Watson recently signed on as a young woman who falls in love with Booth’s son character.

Now Variety has a few more details on Watson’s casting, adding not just that Dakota Fanning got the part first and had to turn it down because she couldn’t work out her schedule, but that Jennifer Connelly might not be taking the role of Noah’s wife, as has been widely reported. Julianne Moore is apparently also in consideration for that part, though given that she has neither the track record with Aronofsky (Requiem for a Dream) or Crowe (A Beautiful Mind) that Connelly does, her casting doesn’t seem quite as intuitive. On top of that, Live Schreiber is apparently a leading contender for the villain role– y’know, the villain who isn’t the weather. You might remember Liam Neeson was once rumored for the part, but apparently that was never really happening, and Schreiber is a much more likely option.

Noah is already set for a March 28, 2014 release, which gives Aronofsky plenty of time not just to put his cast together, but to assemble what will inevitably be enormous special effects for this big-budget movie. No matter how the final product turns out, it’s a delight to see the filmmaker embark on a giant passion project like this, all because his labor of love Black Swan turned into an unlikely box office success, allowing him to do absolutely anything he wants for his followup. After watching him struggle for years to make The Fountain, Aronofsky deserves to finally be embarking on an epic exactly the way he wants it.

Source: Cinema Blend