Noah (2014 film) - Nuh : Büyük Tufan

Noah is a 2014 American epic biblically-inspired film directed by Darren Aronofsky, written by Aronofsky and Ari Handel, and based on the story of Noah's Ark.^[5] The film stars Russell Crowe as Noah along with Jennifer Connelly, Ray Winstone, Emma Watson, Logan Lerman, Anthony Hopkins, and Douglas Booth. It was released in North American theaters on March 28, 2014 in 2-D and IMAX while several countries will also release a version of the film converted to 3-D and IMAX 3D.^[6]

As a young boy, Noah witnessed his father, Lamech, being killed by the young king Tubal-Cain, who wanted to seize Lamech's land.

Many years later, Noah is living with his wife Naameh and his three sons: Shem, Ham, and Japheth. After seeing a flower grow instantly from the ground and being haunted by vivid dreams of a great flood, Noah decides to travel with his family to visit his grandfather, Methuselah.

On the way, they come upon a group of people recently killed. They adopt the lone survivor, a girl named Ila, who was wounded in the attack and has become barren. Noah and his family are chased by Tubal-Cain's men, but are able to seek refuge with fallen angels known as the Watchers. The Watchers had been forced by the Creator to remain on earth as stone golems for disobeying the Creator and helping humans after they had been banished from Garden of Eden. Humans had attempted to enslave and kill the Watchers, but Methuselah helped them escape and was befriended by them.

Noah receives a seed passed down from Eden from Methuselah. He plants the seed and an entire forest grows from it within seconds. Noah announces that all the wood will be used to build an ark, and Noah's family and the Watchers begin construction.

Eight years later, as the Ark nears completion, animals start to walk into the ark and are put to sleep by incense that Noah prepares. Noah goes to a nearby settlement to find wives for his three sons but finds that the surrounding lands have been running short on food and the humans, led by Tubal-Cain, have become savage and cannibalistic. He becomes convinced that the Creator wishes for the human race to end and abandons his effort. Back at the camp, Methuselah blesses Ila, and her barrenness is cured.

Ham decides to go to the camp himself and find a wife. He befriends a frightened young girl named Na'el. She is willing to go with him to the ark as the flood begins, but on their way back Na'el's foot gets caught in an animal trap just as Tubal-Cain's horde marches on the Ark. Noah forces Ham to save himself and leave Na'el behind to be trampled to death.

All of Noah's family gets in the Ark except for Methuselah, who chooses to die in the flood. As the Ark is launched, the Watchers sacrifice themselves to protect it from the oncoming horde, allowing them to ascend into Heaven. As the flood drowns the remaining soldiers, Tubal-Cain manages to cling to the Ark. The king is found by Ham and befriends him, playing on anger toward Noah for allowing Na'el to die.

Ila falls in love with Shem and becomes pregnant as rains stop. Naameh, Shem, and Ila inform Noah of this, but the patriarch says that if the child is a girl he will kill her to satisfy the Creator's wish to destroy humanity. Noah asks for the Creator's counsel but finds no answer. He resolves to follow his plan, despite Naameh's unsuccessful attempts to dissuade him.

Months pass, and Ila and Shem build a small raft to escape Noah, but Noah burns it just as they prepare to leave. Ila goes into labor and gives birth to twin girls.

Meanwhile, Tubal-Cain is able to convince Ham to help kill Noah. Noah is lured by Ham to the aft of the ark on false pretenses, where he is attacked by Tubal-Cain, Ham, and Shem. As they fight, the Ark hits a mountain, injuring both Noah and Tubal-Cain. As Tubal-Cain is about to deliver a killing blow to Noah, a repentant Ham attacks and kills Tubal-Cain. Noah finds Ila and the twin girls but decides to spare their lives.

As the family departs the Ark, Ham decides to leave them, still angry at Noah. Noah explains that he didn't kill his grandchildren because he had nothing in his heart but love for them. Noah blesses the family as the beginning of a new human race. They watch as the Creator sends a rainbow from the sky, covering all of the Earth, signaling his promise to never destroy mankind with a flood again.

• Russell Crowe as Noah^[7]
• Jennifer Connelly as Naameh, Noah's wife.^[8]
• Ray Winstone as Tubal-cain, Noah's nemesis.^[9][10]
• Emma Watson as Ila, Noah's daughter-in-law and Shem's wife.^[11]
• Logan Lerman as Ham, Noah's son.^[12]
• Anthony Hopkins as Methuselah, Noah's grandfather.^[13]
• Douglas Booth as Shem, Noah's son.^[12]
• Leo McHugh Carroll as Japheth, Noah's son.
• Frank Langella as Og, a Watcher who helps Noah.^[14]
• Dakota Goyo as Young Noah^[15]
• Marton Csokas as Lamech, Noah's father.^[16][17]
• Madison Davenport as Na'el, Ham's love interest.^[18]
• Nick Nolte as Samyaza, leader of the Watchers.^[19]
• Mark Margolis as Magog, a Watcher.^[19]
• Kevin Durand as Rameel, a Watcher
• Nolan Gross as Young Ham
• Adam Griffith as Adam
• Ariane Rinehart as Eve
• Gavin Casalegno as Young Shem
• Skylar Burke as Young Ila

Development[edit]

Aronofsky first got interested in the story of Noah in the seventh grade. As part of a creative writing assignment he submitted a poem about Noah entitled "The Dove".^[20] Years later after finishing the movie Pi, Aronofsky was searching for ideas for his next movie and thought that a movie about Noah would be a good idea.^[20] Work on the script began in 2000 but Aronofsky put the project on hold when he learned Hallmark was already working on a similar movie. Work on the draft resumed sometime later with a first draft being completed in 2003.^[20]

In adapting to story for a feature film Aronofsky struggled with how to adapt it to feature length—the story in the Bible is only four chapters and doesn't include names for his wife or his sons' wives.^[20] The text does mention Noah getting drunk after the flood and getting into an altercation with one of his sons, which provided Aronofsky and his team clues into what events took place on the Ark.^[20]

Aronofsky first discussed Noah with The Guardian in April 2007, Aronofsky explained that he saw Noah as "a dark, complicated character" who experiences "real survivor's guilt" after the flood. Aronofsky was working on early drafts of the script for Noah around the time his first attempt to make The Fountain fell through when actor Brad Pitt left the project.^[21]

Ari Handel—Aronofsky's collaborator on The Fountain, The Wrestler and Black Swan—helped Aronofsky develop the script. Before they found financial backing for Noah, they collaborated with Canadian artist Niko Henrichon to adapt the script into a graphic novel. The first volume of the graphic novel was released in the French language by Belgian publisher Le Lombard in October 2011 under the title Noé: Pour la cruauté des hommes (Noah: For the Cruelty of Men).^[22] After the creation of the graphic novel, Aronofsky struck a deal with Paramount and New Regency to produce a feature film of Noah with a budget of $130 million.^[23][24] Screenwriter John Logan was called in to re-draft the script alongside Aronofsky, but is not credited for his contributions.^[25]

In October 2012, Emma Watson commented on the setting of the film: "I think what Darren's going for is a sense that it could be set in any time. It could be set sort of like a thousand years in the future or a thousand years in the past. ... You shouldn't be able to place it too much."^[26]

Aronofsky had previously offered the role of Noah to Christian Bale and Michael Fassbender, both of whom declined. Bale went on to star as Moses in Ridley Scott's upcoming religious epic film Exodus: Gods and Kings.^[27]

Dakota Fanning was originally cast in the role of Ila, but departed due to a scheduling conflict.^[28]

Julianne Moore was also considered for the role of Naameh.^[28]

Liam Neeson, Liev Schreiber and Val Kilmer were also considered for the part of Tubal-cain. Aronofsky reportedly wanted an actor "with the grit and size to be convincing as he goes head-to-head against Crowe's Noah character".^[9]

Principal photography began in July 2012, in Dyrhólaey, Fossvogur, Reynisfjara and other locations in Southern Iceland.^[29][30]

Filming also took place in New York state. A set representing Noah's Ark was built at the Planting Fields Arboretum in Upper Brookville, New York.^[31] In September 2012, while on break from a location on Long Island, Russell Crowe and a friend, both of whom had been kayaking for several hours, were rescued by the Coast Guard near Cold Spring Harbor.^[32] Production was put on hold while Hurricane Sandy subjected New York to heavy rain and flooding during late October 2012.^[33]

Regarding the film's extensive use of visual effects, Aronofsky said he and his crew "had to create an entire animal kingdom",^[34] using no real animals in the production but instead "slightly tweaked" versions of real creatures.^[35] Industrial Light and Magic said their work on the film represented "the most complicated rendering in the company's history".^[34]

The musical score for Noah was composed by Clint Mansell, who scored the music for all of Aronofsky's previous feature films, and is performed by Kronos Quartet.^[36] A soundtrack album was released by Nonesuch Records on March 26, 2014.^[37]

The president of the National Religious Broadcasters stated that the Noah film includes "major biblical themes" including "sin, judgment, righteousness, and God as Creator."^[38] In addition, the film promotes the concept of evolutionary creation.^[38][39] Ari Handel, the scriptwriter for the Noah film stated that “The story of Noah starts with this concept of strong justice, that the wickedness of man will soon be met with justice, and it ends when the rainbow comes and it says, even though the heart of man is filled with wickedness, I will never again destroy the world...So it ends with this idea of mercy. God somehow goes from this idea of judging the wickedness to mercy and grace. So we decided that was a powerful and emotional arc to go through, and we decided to give that arc to Noah.”^[40]Commenting on God's mercy, Wesley Hill in First Things notes that "near the end of the film, Emma Watson’s character, Ila...says to Noah that perhaps God preserved him because God knew that he had a merciful heart", "the film ends up locating the rationale for God’s mercy in some native spark of goodness in Noah that will, viewers hope, make the new, post-flood world more livable than the antediluvian one."^[41]

"Worrisome" feedback from largely religious audiences at test screenings in October 2013 led The Hollywood Reporter to report on tensions between Aronofsky and Paramount over control of the final cut.^[42][43] Aronofsky said that he was very unhappy with Paramount testing alternate versions of Noah that were not 'true to his vision': "I was upset - of course. No one has ever done that to me. I imagine if I made comedies and horror films, it would be helpful. In dramas, it's very, very hard to do. I've never been open to it. I don't believe that." After much discussion and compromise, the studio announced on February 12 that Darren Aronofsky's version, not any of the studio's alternate versions, would be the final cut of Noah.^[44] "They tried what they wanted to try, and eventually they came back. My version of the film hasn't been tested... It's what we wrote and what was greenlighted," Aronofsky said. It was be test-screened until post production is finished, as per Aronofsky's wishes.^[45] A survey conducted on February 17, 2014 showed that 98% of the members of Faith Driven Consumer, a Christian church organization, are "not satisfied with Hollywood's take on religious stories such as 'Noah'".^[46] However, because the survey was given to people who had not actually seen the film, and was worded so broadly as to include "Hollywood's take on religious stories" in general, Paramount criticised Variety for their "inaccurate" report and their survey conduction. In the film's defense, the studio unveiled new survey studies from Nielsen's National Research Group and The Barna Group that 83% of "very religious" film-goers are interested in the film, while "86% of Christian respondents who are aware of the film said they would recommend 'Noah' to their friends."^[47]

In response to religious concerns after test screenings, Paramount Pictures added a disclaimer to marketing materials in February 2014, saying:

"The film is inspired by the story of Noah. While artistic license has been taken, we believe that this film is true to the essence, values and integrity of a story that is a cornerstone of faith for millions of people worldwide. The biblical story of Noah can be found in the book of Genesis."^[48]

The film had its premiere in Mexico City on March 10, 2014.^[49] In North America, the film grossed a little over $43.7 million during its opening box office weekend, becoming Aronofsky's highest opening weekend and his first film to open at #1.^[50]

As of April 13, 2014, the film has grossed $84,872,000 in North America and $162,000,000 in other countries, making an international gross of $246,872,000.^[51]