Darren Aronofsky Says 'Noah' Will Highlight What's Been "Censored Out Of Our Religious Upbringing"

Darren Aronofosky (Black Swan, Requiem for a Dream) has never been one for subtlety. He's all about grand spectacle and fervent theatrics — things for which his long-in-the-works passion project Noah is perfectly suited. Aronofsky has been obsessed with the biblical figure ever since he won a school poetry competition for a poem he wrote about the end of the world as seen through the eyes of Noah. He was 13 years old.

Fast forward 30 years, and Aronofsky still has his heart set on telling the story of Noah — so much so that he's been working on the film's screenplay for six of those years. But with the filmmakers' penchant for depicting "sinful" acts in intensely graphic detail, what sort of rendition of the popular bible story should we be expecting? A family-friendly affair, or The Passion of the Christ with a boat-load of animals? Read what Aronofsky had to say on the matter after the break.

In an interview with MovieWeb, Aronofsky hinted that a PG rating was not in store for the film, should it ever get made. This may or may not be because it's going to be filled with lots of incest and inbreeding. (I'm guessing 'not', but then, who can tell when it comes to the man responsible for the only non-porn "ass-to-ass" scene to ever grace cinema screens.)

[He was the] first environmentalist. [The] first person to plant vineyards, drink wine and get drunk. I was stunned going back and realizing how dirty some of those stories are. They're not PG in any way. They're all about sleeping with your brother's sister who gives you a child who you don't know. That kind of stuff got censored out of our religious upbringing.

This is in line with what Aronofsky has been saying of the film for years, though his comments weren't nearly as indicative of the film's potential for an R-rating. Back in 2008, he described Noah as a rather tragic figure:

There was some real survivor's guilt going on there. He's a dark, complicated character. The tragedies we perform on each other are so well reported. Quite clearly, the planet is dying, and we are dying on it.

His reference to Noah as the "first environmentalist" also has added significance when taken in context with his past discussions of the film:

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.

Sounds great, but it could be some time before Noah gets made — assuming it will. A graphic novel version of Aronofsky's story will be published as a four-part mini-series in 2012, and that will be used to influence studios to (hopefully) produce the film. In the meantime, it could also end up being another comic book that helps get Noah into production. Aronofsky is after all prepping for The Wolverine, his first foray into big-budget franchise filmmaking. If the film is a success, he may have enough clout to secure financing for whatever passion project he pleases. (Hey, it worked for Nolan.)