Live from the set of NOAH: Biblical floods!
It seems as if Darren Aronofsky’s productions always tend to encounter a few minor headaches. That’s no knock on the brilliant filmmaker, but let’s consider the facts:
- The Fountain: Aronofsky’s follow-up to Requieum for a Dream. Warner Brothers shuts down pre-production in 2002 on account of escalating budget. Brad Pitt decides the script isn’t what he’d like to be and walks away a mere seven weeks before shooting.
- The Wrestler: Nicolas Cage enters into negotiations for the lead role and begins attending matches to develop his character. Leaves one month later and is recast by Rourke (who Aronofsky fought for all along).
- Black Swan: Portman’s dance double Sarah Lane decries that she stood in for the Academy Award-winning Portman for the complex dance numbers. Aronofsky and studio rush to the defense of Portman.
- Noah: Act of God shuts down production (see below).
Indeed, production on Aronofsky’s biblical epic Noah, currently filming in Oyster Bay, New York, has been halted in light of the beating Hurricane Sandy’s putting on our east coast. Chief among the studio’s concerns is what will happen to the two very large arks that have been built for production. The first ark is currently being housed in a Brooklyn soundstage while the other is sitting in the sea near Oyster Bay. Ouch.
The Oyster Bay set is in no way built for the rigors of a real deal biblical flood, which is why the last few days have seen the set partially dismantled in preparation of the storm.
Obviously Sandy’s shutting down productions all along the east coast currently, but the hurricane putting a pounding on a film about a prophet building an ark for a flood is not without its ironies. With shooting close to wrap I suspect Sandy won’t put too big a dent into production. Besides, there are other films far worthier of God’s wrath than this.
Source: LA Times