Emma Watson is just one of the stars in the new film Noah that premiered this weekend in theaters across the country. During one of her interviews touting the film she talked about the liberties director Darren Aronofsky took in translating the Bible story for telling on the big screen.
‘‘Darren does these very dark, very intense, very gritty, very real films,’’ Watson explained. ‘‘And then Noah is kind of — you see this guy with the long beard and there’s the animals. … You can’t really picture it.’’
Then she read the script.
‘‘I think it’s a really original take on a genre, on a story, on an idea,’’ she said.
Emma Watson’s role is that of Noah’s adopted daughter Ila. Is she a particularly religious woman in real life?
“I already had the sense that I was someone who was more spiritual than specifically religious. … I’m really interested in those things that are more far-reaching than culture, nationality, race, religion,” she said.
Darren Aronofsky has come under considerable fire from several Christian groups who have accused him of taking way too many liberties with the biblical text. Watson weighed in on that as well.
Hold on to your hats America, Noah is coming to a theatre near you TOMORROW! http://t.co/QSCAgDz1Fj #noah
— Emma Watson (@EmWatson) March 28, 2014
“If we had gone with exactly the original story, Noah doesn’t say anything until he steps off the ark. You would have been watching a silent film. None of the women are really spoken about in the biblical story. There wouldn’t have been any women in it. He had to adapt it for the screen,” she said.
And that makes perfect sense, too. Anyone who has read the Old Testament account of Noah knows that the entire tale is summed up in very few passages. There is no way to extract a film’s worth of story line from the biblical account.
In addition to Emma Watson, Noah also stars Russell Crowe and Jennifer Connelly. The hype about this film alone may draw viewers to the box office. The special effects are said to be second to none as well.
Noah appears to have what it takes to dictate many people’s weekend plans. Emma Watson seems to have played a role in drawing in at least a fair portion of the film’s soon-to-be fans.
We trended worldwide! Thank you so much for sending me your questions. I loved doing this!!! Go see Noah on March 28th! #NoahMovie #AskEmma
— Emma Watson (@EmWatson) March 21, 2014
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