June 8, 2011 13:22

'Black Swan' director to tackle 'Noah's Ark'

Darren Aronofsky still hungry for biblical epic

Oscar nominated director Darren Aronofsky (TheWrestler, Black Swan) is seeking finance for his take on the biblical story of Noah's Ark. The film is described by Deadline as “a big fantasy epic, and an opportunity for Aronofsky to create a world.”

Speaking to /Film Aronofsky had this to say about getting a studio onboard: “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.”

With a hefty price tag, said to be in the region of $130m, funding may be hard to achieve.

But seeing as his last movie, Black Swan won an Oscar for it's leading actress, Natalie Portman, topped $100m at the US box office and pulled in $315m worldwide on an estimated budget of $13m, if anyone is going to be gambled on in Hollywood's present climate it's this moustachioed visionary.

The last Hollywood film to attempt a re-working of the Noah story was the 2007 flop Evan Almighty starring Steve Carell. The film had the highest recorded budget for a comedy, at $175m.

Aronofsky was attached to direct the Wolverine sequel but left before shooting began, citing personal reasons.