With the normal Hollywood dry spell in the first few months of any given year, all eyes are on Darren Aronofsky to continue his track record and deliver something worthwhile this March with the release of his Biblical epic Noah. His biggest budget yet at a reported $125 million dollar, the Paramount tentpole features heavy CGI (with all the animals just the tip of the iceberg), part of the reason we have yet to see any footage yet.
In recent months test screenings have been occurring across the country and we’ve heard from sources that multiple versions were being screened, featuring different cuts from Paramount and Aronofsky himself. THR has now rounded up a handful of sources confirming this was taking place, with New York’s Jewish population, Arizona’s Christian population and the general public in Orange County, California all seeing the film.
The results are reportedly “worrisome,” with Paramount and Aronofsky fighting over the final cut, as the filmmaker is resistant to recent changes suggested by the studio. An inside source says, “Darren is not made for studio films. He’s very dismissive. He doesn’t care about [Paramount’s] opinion.” We understand a bigger budget means he has to answer/please more people, but one wonders why the studio hired Aronofsky in the first place if they aren’t allowing him to deliver his vision (something he was able to do with Black Swan, which pulled in well over the double the budget of Noah).
Regardless, Paramount vice chairman Rob Moore says this process is “normal” and the release will be “one version of the movie that Darren is overseeing.” We certainly hope this is the case, as Aronofsky’s involvement is at the top of pile of reasons why this one is so highly-anticipated. Paramount at least seems to be aware of the problems, saying they anticipated the complicated challenges and Aronofsky’s schedule “allowed for a very long postproduction period, which allowed for a lot of test screenings.”
Noah arrives on March 28th, 2014.
Do you think Aronofsky should have full creative control over Noah‘s final cut?