Take this as nothing more than a confirmation, but, after some quiet on the development front, Deadline tells us that Darren Aronofsky and Russell Crowe are gearing up for the former’s passion project, Noah. Our last news on the picture concerned the latter’s casting — a department that, while once problematic, was more or less sealed by this point — and, exactly three weeks later, Paramount have set the proceedings for a July start.

Aronofsky wrote the screenplay with Ari Mandel, deciding to portray the titular Biblical hero as “a man who loves Earth and all of its animal inhabitants, but has become disillusioned with the way humans have treated their planet.” Being the auteur that he is, the filmmaker will take this basic outline and spin it into a high-budget, ambitious project that should turn the classic story on its head. (And such a lengthy development process has, like The Fountain, led to a graphic novel adaptation that’s expected to hit before the theatrical release.)

Now, we have one of our most anticipated films of 2013.

Are you happy to hear that Noah is really going forward?