Christian Bale in Talks to Play Noah
Director Darren Aronofsky has been looking to work on a film adaptation of Noah’s ark and it looks like he has been talking with Christian Bale to play the lead role.
The idea for the project began in 2007 and it seems that there may be some movement this year. New Regency Enterprises has already made a deal with the “The Fountain” and “Black Swan” director to pay for half of the film’s budget, which is expected to cost around $130 million in total.
Aronofsky and Bale have met before when he directed the early stages of Bale’s latest movie, “The Fighter.”
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The 42-year-old has been interested in developing the story into a film adaptation since he was 13 years old. At 13, he won a United Nations poetry competition at his Brooklyn school. The poem talked about Noah’s perception on the end of the world.
Slash Film talked with the director about the film and he said, “It’s the end of the world and it’s the second most famous ship after the Titanic. So I’m not sure why any studio won’t want to make it.”
“I think it’s really timely because it’s about environmental apocalypse which is the biggest theme, for me, right now for what’s going on on this planet. So I think it’s got these big, big themes that connect with us. Noah was the first environmentalist. He’s a really interesting character. Hopefully they’ll let me make it.”
A Canadian artist, Nico Henrichon, created a graphic novel version of Aronofsky’s story set to release in 2012.
According to Deadline, Paramount, Fox and Summit are likely to participate in the film as the co-financers for the biblical story.
Reports show that the film, described as R-rated, might be marketed as faith-based and recreate similar success as “The Passion of the Christ,” which also carried an R-rating.
The film is estimated to begin production later this year because of Christian Bale’s current work in the ”The Dark Knight Rises,” scheduled for release in July 2012.
