If you’ve seen Steve Carell in Evan Almighty, you’re probably thinking “why remake the Noah story? It’s already perfect.” But Darren Aronofsky, that old Darren Aronofsky, he’s an artist, and artists like a challenge. So he’s making a movie about Noah, and now we have the first picture of Russell Crowe in costume as the lead.

Aronofsky also used social media to send along a picture with the beginning stages of a gigantic wooden craft being built in Oyster Bay, N.Y. It ties in with his tweeted Bible verse, when God tells Noah, “Make thee an ark of gopher wood, rooms shalt thou make in the ark, and shalt pitch it within and without with pitch.”

“Go forth, young man, and verb thy nouns. Thou shalt verb thy nouns from within and from without, with verbs, until thy nouns become as verbs.” I hope all those people who take the bible “literally” are scholars of ancient Hebrew, because otherwise it’s like reading an obsolete instruction manual written in Engrish.

Crowe takes the voyage with his on-screen spouse from A Beautiful Mind, Jennifer Connelly, who stars as Noah’s wife, Naameh. The cast also includes Ray Winstone as Noah’s archenemy Tubal-Cain, Emma Watson as Noah’s adopted daughter, Ila, and Douglas Booth and Logan Lerman as his sons, Shem and Ham, respectively.
Aronofsky has taken to his Twitter feed to give daily updates on Noah for his followers, including casting news — confirming Anthony Hopkins as Noah’s ageless grandfather Methuselah, for example — and teasing to the existence of angelic Nephilim in the film. [USAToday]

Russell Crowe has reportedly been staying in character throughout the shoot, demanding craft services bring him “two of every animal.”

Here is a picture of a puffin:

Hey. I like your puffin.

Aronofsky tweeted this photo with the caption “poor puffin,” presumably after it narrowly escaped Russell Crowe’s deep fryer, Matilda (I imagine he names his deep fryer).

Wait, is there a Bible verse about puffins? I might actually have to start reading this thing. Puffins are adorable, they’re like flying otters.