Watch Russell Crowe & Jennifer Connelly In New NOAH Movie Clip

From the inspirational story of courage, sacrifice, hope and redemption, Darren Aronofsky (“Black Swan,” “The Wrestler,” “The Fountain”) brings to the screen NOAH. Academy Award winner Russell Crowe portrays the man chosen by God to undertake a momentous mission of rescue before an apocalyptic flood destroys the world. Never before has the full story been brought to life on screen in a vivid epic – inviting the audience to experience these spectacular events through the eyes and emotions of Noah and his family, as they journey through fear and faith, destruction and triumph, hardship and hope.

The production took the film’s world-class cast and crew on their own unexpected journey as they set out to intensively research Noah’s world, honor the text and board an authentic Ark, hand-built to biblically-detailed specifications. In every aspect of the film’s performances, action and innovative special-effects, the creative team’s aim was clear: to forge a contemporary experience of NOAH that is immediate, vibrant and personal. The result is the first cinematic portrait of Noah as an imperfect man whose awe-inspiring task grapples with the worst of humanity while affirming our faith in its best.

Watch Jennifer Connelly as Naameh and Russell Crowe as Noah in this brand new clip.

To design and build the Ark, Aronofsky collaborated closely with production designer Mark Friedberg, a recent Emmy Award winner for HBO’s “Mildred Pierce.” Friedberg began the process more than a year before production, focusing first on proportions. “In Genesis the dimensions of the ark are laid out as 30 cubits high, by 50 cubits wide, by 300 cubits long,” he describes. “But there are Egyptian cubits and Venetian cubits – so we had to go deep into history to try to figure it out.”

The production designer kept in mind that Noah didn’t have the luxury of time to create something beautiful for the ages – he needed something that could quickly be up to the job, even if that job was sacred. “The building of this Ark was done in desperation,” Friedberg observes. “So it’s not a piece of cabinetry; it’s not a fine, seafaring craft. It’s a functional object. It’s there to keep the animals floating as the world fills with water. It does not need to steer, because where would you go if the world is all water?”

The Ark’s interior was laid out on three levels, as written in Genesis. “The bottom level is the tallest Mammal Deck for the mammoths, elephants, giraffes and giant beasts. Reptiles and insects live in the middle level, which is only eight feet tall, and at the very top is the twelve foot Avian Deck, where the family lives with all the birds,” Friedberg describes.

Rather than building each of the three levels of the ark side-by-side, as would normally be done on a stage, Aronofsky had them authentically built one atop the other, to further add to the visual dynamism. “It allowed us to connect the levels visually, so you can watch as the characters move up and down through the levels,” explains Friedberg.

Here’s a look inside the Ark. Visit the online Ark Experience to interactively explore the three decks of Noah’s ark: http://www.noahmovie.com/theark/

The entire story of Noah and the Ark he is commanded to build before the earth is flooded takes up just a few pages in the Book of Genesis. But those few passages have had a profound, lasting impact on billions across the globe, evoking both the very depths of evil and the heights of faith and holding out the hope of redemption after catastrophe.

Nevertheless, since the beginning of film history, the majority of screen depictions of this foundational story have been send-ups, comedies or animated films — echoing a pop culture in which the Ark is most often seen in the toy store. The story was first brought to motion pictures in 1928’s “Noah’s Ark,” which merged a brief Hollywood re-creation of the biblical flood with a World War I drama. Since then, there have been Disney shorts, cartoons and several variations on a comic theme. Yet remarkably, the story of Noah has never before been attempted as a full-scale, visual epic that brings the pages of the Bible to life, nor has any filmmaker delved directly into its core motifs of what it is to be human.

“There are comedic versions, there are animated versions, and there was even a Broadway version with Danny Kaye that was a musical,” says “Noah” director and co-writer, Darren Aronofsky.  “Historically, the approach has always veered towards folklore, humor and children’s stories. But if you look at the story’s place in Genesis, there is so much more to it than just the animals going two-by-two. It’s the story of ten generations of wickedness of man that eventually climaxes in God coming to a place where he wants to redo it all. For me, it was the very first end-of-the-world story.”

Academy Award winner Jennifer Connelly (“A Beautiful Mind,” “Requiem for a Dream”), Ray Winstone (“The Departed,” “Hugo”), Emma Watson (“Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows,” “My Week With Marilyn”), Logan Lerman (“Percy Jackson & the Olympians”), Douglas Booth (TV’s “Great Expectations,” the upcoming “Romeo and Juliet”), Dakota Goyo (“Thor”) and Academy Award winner Anthony Hopkins (“The Silence of the Lambs”) also star.

The film’s behind-the-scenes team includes director of photography Matthew Libatique (“Black Swan,” “Iron Man”), production designer Mark Friedberg (“The Amazing Spider-Man 2”, “Synecdoche, New York”), costume designer Michael Wilkinson (“Man of Steel”, “American Hustle”) and composer Clint Mansell (“Black Swan,” “The Wrestler”).

NOAH opens in cinemas and IMAX on March 28, 2014.

Official Website:  http://www.noahmovie.com/
Official Facebook:  Facebook.com/Noah
Official Twitter:  Twitter.com/NoahMovie

Photos: Niko Tavernise (c) MMXIII Paramount Pictures Corporation and Regency Engtertainment (USA), Inc. All Rights Reserved.