It would seem Kim Masters at The Hollywood Reporter has been selective in her chosen words in recent coverage of Darren Aronofksy‘s Noah. A new feature on the film posted just today makes it obvious she was holding back information and twisting the truth for traffic. Pretty deplorable hit-baiting if you ask me, but such is the case with today’s media.
While Masters previously noted Aronofsky’s Noah had gone through “extensive testing”, she ultimately said “[Paramount] and Aronofsky have reached agreement on a cut”, and will present “a version that will lure the broadest possible audience”. What she failed to mention is the cut the studio and Aronofsky agreed to release was the director’s cut, not some bastardized, comment card-bending version.
In the latest feature, which I would find it hard to believe Masters put together in its entirety in the last seven days, Aronofsky admits to butting heads with the studio, “There was a rough patch,” he said as Paramount tested as many as half-a-dozen of its own cuts of the movie.
“I was upset — of course,” Aronofsky told THR. “No one’s 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.”
Versions tested were either longer than the final cut (two-and-a-half-hours vs. the final two hour and 12 minute running time), presented with unfinished effects, with only 20 minutes of the final score or a combination of all.
In the end, it will [apparently] be Aronofsky’s version that hits the screen. “They tried what they wanted to try, and eventually they came back,” Aronsofsky said. “My version of the film hasn’t been tested… It’s what we wrote and what was greenlighted.”
Of course, Masters even contradicts this statement saying “the studio’s versions tested no better than Aronofsky’s” even though Aronofsky clearly said his hadn’t been tested. So, I don’t entirely know what to believe or how to interpret this, but if you look at all of Aronofsky’s quotes in the piece it would seem his version is what we’ll see when the film arrives on March 28.
Masters is a quality reporter so I have no idea why her presentation of this story over the last week or so has been so shoddy, but I guess drummed up controversy sells almost as much as truth and quality. So it goes.
In other Noah news, the graphic novel adaptation, illustrated by Niko Henrichon will be released on March 19. You can preorder a copy right here and check out some pages here. I’ve included the cover directly below.
