Ray Winstone will battle Russell Crowe and bad weather.
Deadline says that Ray Winstone has been offered the main villain role in “Noah,” Darren Aronofsky’s adaptation of the Bible story of Noah and the ark. Russell Crowe is playing Noah.
Who, you may justifiably ask, would be Noah’s nemesis? Well, after combing through the comments on the various websites reporting this story (sorry, Deadline gets the credit because I saw it there first), I have concluded that these are the most likely choices: “water,” “rain,” and “clouds.” So yes, it appears that Winstone will be playing some form of precipitation.
In all seriousness, I guess he will play some sort of town elder who says Noah is crazy for building the ark and tries to have it destroyed or something like that. Then when the rain starts he’ll want to get on, of course.
Here’s what Deadline says about the casting decision:
…Aronofsky considered a number of actors — Val Kilmer was among them — but wanted a thesp with the grit and size to be convincing as he goes head to head against Crowe’s Noah character.
Well, that’s true, Crowe and Winstone are two big burly manly men who could face off with each other in a number of venues: battlefield, bare knuckle boxing, car chase, drinking game. It’s probably a better pair than Crowe and Kilmer, who doesn’t have Winstone’s menace.
Other “Noah” cast members include Logan Lerman, Douglas Booth, and Emma Watson (well, she was in talks, don’t know if she officially signed on yet). The film is set for March 28, 2014.
