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Darren Aronofsky's Noah movie is on every sensible film fan's wish list, and it seems to inch a little closer to reality every day. In September, he revealed that he had finished the script -- and now comes news as to what he's doing with it. Aronofsky told Ropes of Silicon that he's currently in the process of turning it into a graphic novel. Considering the one he did for The Fountain, we'll be in for a very special read.

But fear not, film fans, he's still planning to put it on the big screen: "Eventually we'll set it up, but we're just figuring it out. It's a very difficult film to get made and we're slowly working on it to get it put together." And how's this for a tease? "There is an actor attached, but I'm not going to say who, but he's a big movie star."

It's becoming clear that Darren Aronofsky is still haunted by the failure of The Fountain -- and I don't mean that as negatively as it might sound. He has a right to be bothered by it. It was a struggle to make, and a deeply personal story that was given rather shoddy treatment all around.

So it's not surprising that he wants to return to it -- but what is surprising is that he told MTV that his goal isn't an ultimate director's cut, but something akin to a remake. "It wouldn't be a 'director's cut' - more like an alternate story told with the addition of unused footage from the first go-round. This would be a complicated project on a couple of levels, though, and it's at least a few years away."

That has to be the most intriguing tease ever. Some of the missing scenes could be found in the graphic novel -- in its afterword, Aronofsky described rewriting the script to be the lean indie film we saw onscreen, which always implied that he had never shot the "extras" that were in the book. There's nothing that changes the story drastically -- the book was esentially the same, except for an extended sequence in Spain that explored the love affair between the Queen and Tomas, the political problems it was causing her, and the hold the Inqusition had on the country. It's a beautiful, incredibly romantic chapter of the book. And if he ever filmed it ... wow. I want to see it. Maybe we can at least have a Criterion edition that has the footage as an extra?

[via /film]

(from left to right) Sean Gullette in Pi, Ellen Burstyn in Requiem for a Dream, Hugh Jackman in The Fountain, and Mickey Rourke in The Wrestler

I had been writing a rambling introduction to this piece, but to make a long anecdote short, I decided to re-watch the works of writer-director Darren Aronofsky prior to seeing his new film, The Wrestler. Out of more happenstance than planning, I began his first film exactly a day to the minute before this one would end, and now I offer up my thoughts on his career to date. (Who knows what more could come following this: 24 Hours of Fincher? 36 Hours of Boyle? My Dinner with Andre Benjamin's Idlewild?)

Darren Aronofsky's The Wrestler is surely one of the fall's most enigmatic releases -- and one of the most eagerly awaited. Bad Taste got hold of the first production stills from the film, and it looks every bit as creepy and moody as you'd expect from the man behind Requiem for a Dream and The Fountain (which was awesome despite its generally negative reception).

The movie is about a retired professional wrestler, played by Mickey Rourke, who is trying to survive on the small-time independent wrestling circuit. It sounds campy, but I think it's more likely to be grim -- I've read some stories about that scene (anyone else read Swan Song by Robert McCammon?) and it sounds, if anything, awfully depressing. These photos confirm that, I think, as does the fact that Clint Mansell is once again writing the musical score.

The movie premieres in Venice next month, then Toronto shortly thereafter. It doesn't have a US distributor yet, but I'm guessing that won't last long. Check out a couple more photos (including one featuring Marisa Tomei as a stripper) in the gallery below, then see the rest over at Bad Taste.

With a title like Tree of Life, it had sounded like Terrence Malick's next project was to be in line with his last. It even was set to star his lead from The New World, Colin Farrell -- co-starring with Mel Gibson. But Tree of Life doesn't appear to be about Spanish conquistadors and such -- which is good, since The Fountain already covered that territory. Of course, the actual plot of Malick's script is unknown, and despite the fact that it was going to be shot primarily in India two years ago, the same locations might not be used now that the project is up and running once again.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, Tree of Life could now star Heath Ledger and Sean Penn, who appeared in Malick's The Thin Red Line. The trade states the actors, as well as Malick, are in talks but that shooting is expected to begin in March. River Road Entertainment, which worked with Penn on Into the Wild and with Ledger on Brokeback Mountain is heading the project with the company's founder, William Pohlad, and Sarah Green (The New World) producing.

As I said, little is known about the film. THR mentions the usual "plot is closely guarded" irritant, and to rub in the annoyance tells us an insider could only say that it's a "complex drama." According to a bit of trivia on the IMDb, Tree of Life actually originated in the summer of 1978, when Malick began working on the project, which was then titled Q. Considered his most ambitious project, Q was originally a multi-character story set in the Middle East during World War I, but it also featured a prehistoric prologue with a Minotaur. Then, by the end of the year, the prologue became the whole film. Like The Fountain, it seems like the plot took place over a long, long time. Unfortunately, in 1979 the director and Paramount apparently had a falling out about money; after that Malick disappeared for twenty years.

Anyway, does it really matter what Tree of Life is about? The important thing is that we could get a fifth feature from Malick!

Director Darren Aronofsky's last project, The Fountain, had to shut down production once Brad Pitt dropped out. Thankfully, Aronofsky managed to resurrect the film on half the budget, and enticed Hugh Jackman to fill Pitt's shoes. And it's funny sometimes the way things work out -- because, now, on Aronofsky's next film, The Fighter, he once again found himself in a spot where an actor had to depart due to a busy schedule. That actor is Matt Damon. And who is his replacement? Brad Pitt. It's almost laughable -- the way it all came full circle -- but it's also an excellent addition to the film. In my opinion, Pitt and Damon are two of the best actors working today; swapping one out for the other is a non-issue as I'm sure both are capable of handling this sort of content.

According to Variety, The Fighter, which now finds Pitt co-starring alongside Mark Wahlberg, follows the life of boxer Irish Mickey Ward. Pitt will play Mickey's half-brother Dicky (not making that up, folks); a fighter himself, who once fought folks like Sugar Ray Leonard, but later found himself lost in a life of crime, shacked up in prison. From there, Dicky turns his life around, and helps teach his underperforming brother how to become a champion. And so it goes -- uplifting, heroic, the whole nine. Pitt will most likely shoot the film once he's done starring in State of Play opposite Edward Norton for Universal. For fans of Aronofsky who were dying to see him pair up with the likes of Pitt, hopefully your time has finally come. That is, unless Pitt doesn't ditch this project too. Fingers crossed.

I really, really wanted to like The Fountain. I remember running out of a TIFF screening to hurry over to the next theater to get a good spot in line. Unfortunately, the line was gargantuan -- larger than any I'd ever seen at the festival. Visions of Requiem for a Dream popped in my head while I waited, and I was sure it would draw me in and wow me with both the story and the visuals. Not quite. Response from Cinematical, like the rest of the movie-going public, was mixed -- like me, Kim Voynar wanted to like it, but was disappointed, while Scott Weinberg would have no problem recommending it, and Ryan Stewart called it a "gorgeous, time-bending epic."

Now you might remember that an unauthorized commentary was in the works, because Darren Aronofsky wasn't happy with the amount of features on the film's DVD. The director said: "Everything at the studio was a struggle. For instance, they didn't want to do a commentary track cause they felt it wouldn't help sales. I didn't have it in me to fight anymore. Whatever." Instead of fighting, he just made his own commentary with his friend, Niko, and it's now available on the site that he built for the filmmaker. So, if you're a big fan of the film, go to Aronofsky's website and rejoice. If you're not, maybe learning about the artistic intent will make The Fountain flow, rather than dry up.

[via AICN]

I didn't notice this when I recently reviewed the new DVD for The Fountain, but director Darren Aronofsky was making his displeasure with the stripped-down disc known on his blog page. As I noted in my review, the disc wasn't exactly free of extras -- it contained one medium-sized documentary, broken up into six chapters -- but other than that, there was nothing. On his page, Aronofsky says "As many of you can tell it [the DVD] is light on extras as compared to my previous DVD releases. Everything at the studio was a struggle. For instance, they didn't want to do a commentary track cause they felt it wouldn't help sales. I didn't have it in me to fight anymore. Whatever." He also notes "Niko, my friend who did the doc on the DVD came up with a novel idea. We recorded a commentary track ourselves. We're gonna post it on a site soon, http coming soon. You can play it and watch the flick and hopefully you'll enjoy it." He wraps up by noting that "I do hope to do a big special edition at some point, but for that to happen the DVD is gonna have to sell."

In other Aronofsky news, he recently chatted with Empire and confirmed to them that he will be doing "an adaptation of Noah's Ark." Aronofsky says "I'm pretty much done with the script." Hilariously, he defends himself against comparisons to Evan Almighty, noting "This is not a comedy. It's funny, because Noah's always been done as a comedy. This is definitely more the sci-fi version. It's the traditional Noah story, but it's told in a serious way. More fantasy than comedy."