In Paramount Pictures' new epic adventure “Noah,” the titular character's sons – Shem and Ham, who will replenish a new generation of the world – are played by two rapidly rising actors. Logan Lerman, who has received acclaim in “Percy Jackson: The Lightning Thief” and “The Perks of Being a Wallflower,” plays Ham; while British heartthrob Douglas Booth, who won accolades as in the latest film version of “Romeo & Juliet,” portrays Shem.

While the Bible doesn’t give the exact age of Noah’s sons, it's believed that they were somewhere in their low 100s. “In an era when men live 900 years, how old should a 100 year old look? Or a 500 year old? Noah had kids at 500, built the Ark at 600, died at 950,” Aronofsky explains. “So in our story, when Noah is building the Ark, should he look like you or I would look if we somehow lived to 500, or should he look like a man who’s lived 5/9thths of his life – in other words a middle aged man? And Noah’s kids who are about 1/10 of their natural life-span – what should they look like? What matters is that they are relatively young compared to their father, still learning their own sense of manhood from their patriarch. We wanted people to feel that.”

While the prospect of being the only human survivors of the deluge is difficult for Noah (Russell Crowe) and wife Naameh (Jennifer Connelly), it is especially hard for their middle son, Ham, to accept. “That’s a difficult thing to accept at any age – that you’re going to be among a handful of people to survive humanity’s destruction,” says Russell Crowe. “But when you’re talking about young men in the prime of their lives, who feel they won’t ever experience even what their parents have experienced, you’re going to have moments of rebellion.”

Ham does have his moments of rebellion, but Logan Lerman views his character as motivated by hope. “Technically, he’s the wicked child, because he questions what his father says,” says Lerman. “But I think he’s also just a kid looking for someone to love.”

Meanwhile, Douglas Booth describes Shem as seemingly the most dutiful of Noah’s sons. “Shem really is his father’s son throughout the movie, until one pivotal moment,” the actor describes.

But even for Shem, the future his father is taking them into is terrifying, and Booth tried to imagine what it would be like to truly be in that position. “Imagine if you knew you were going to be the last family on the planet and everyone else is going to die,” he says. “It’s such a huge thing and I love how Darren captures that in such a personal way.”

“The Bible says that Noah, his sons, and his sons’ wives went onto the ark,” says Aronofsky. “And that is exactly what happens in the film, although it happens in a way that is surprising and unexpected. By the end of the film, it is clear that there are 3 sons and 3 wives and all of them were on the ark. But we used the way those wives came on, and the uncertainty about that, as a means to help dramatize the questions of whether mankind is good or wicked, deserves justice or mercy, should be wiped out or should be spared – the questions we felt were at the heart of the Noah story.”

Inspired by the epic story of courage, sacrifice and hope, Darren Aronofsky (“Black Swan”) brings to the screen his personal vision of “Noah.” Russell Crowe portrays the man chosen to undertake a momentous mission of rescue before an apocalyptic flood destroys the world. The film offers a mesmerizing visual adventure through everlasting themes of good and evil, destruction and mercy, hope, family and second chances.

The film sets out to imagine the largely unknown life of Noah and his family, inviting audiences into both the spectacle and the heart of their experience as the earth disappears under a colossal deluge that will undo everything … yet lead to a new day for all Creation.

Now showing across the Philippines, “Noah” will be distributed in the Philippines by United International Pictures through Columbia Pictures.

Regarded as one of the finest actors of our time, Oscar-winner Russell Crowe (“Gladiator,” “Man of Steel”) is often sought after to bring an earthy humanity to towering characters. When the filmmakers began talking about who could carry the story of Paramount Pictures' new searing epic “Noah,” his name quickly came to the forefront.

But playing Noah would be an extreme undertaking even by his standards – in part because Noah has never before been seen on screen as a real man trying to stand up under the most enormous burden in human history: to assure the survival of all living things.

Says director Darren Aronofsky, “Russell intrigued us because he is always authentic, and so very, very believable. No matter what, you never question if Russell believes in what he's saying. And of course the possibility of working with someone with that much talent, that much power, was very exciting for me -- just to see what we could create together.”

Screenwriter Ari Handel was gratified to have an actor who could step right into the outsized contours of the role. “We really needed someone in the great tradition of biblical epics who has that gravitas,” he says. “Russell is someone you believe could follow through on the most Herculean, impossible task without complaint. You never doubt his capability or his strength, but in his eyes, you see an underlying compassion.”

To help recruit him, Aronofsky made Crowe a promise: he would never be shot in the hoary cliché with a pair of giraffes behind his head. But once he began his research, Crowe found that trying to get inside Noah from a modern perspective was endlessly fascinating. “You start with all these preconceived notions about Noah, but when you start to break down what the world might have been like in his time, it’s very intriguing,” he says.

The biggest challenge for Crowe was coming to terms with how a man would grapple emotionally and morally with such an urgent but still hazy vision of disaster from the Creator. “Noah only starts to understand the task he faces as a sort of deduction because he’s not getting a lot of direct input,” Crowe explains. “What he understands is that he needs to look after all the animals, but he doesn't have any information at all about how he is to address the human question, so a lot is left for him to figure out. One of the cool things about him is that I don’t think he finds there’s any honor in this job. In fact, he sees it as the worst job he could possibly get from the Creator. But he will do everything in his power to finish it.”

Working with Aronofsky was a major lure for Crowe throughout. “I felt that we never finished a day without something really cool being captured,” says the actor. “He’s intense because he wants to get a lot done, but that's great because you know he's always looking for something. And here's the other thing: he never stops directing. Even in the longest, coldest, toughest night, he never stops talking about that thing that you're pushing towards, which I suppose explains exactly why he makes the type of movies that he does. He's always taking people into places and experiences that are not average or typical. And hopefully that’s what this movie does as well.”

Inspired by the epic story of courage, sacrifice and hope, Darren Aronofsky (“Black Swan”) brings to the screen his personal vision of “Noah.” Russell Crowe portrays the man chosen to undertake a momentous mission of rescue before an apocalyptic flood destroys the world. The film offers a mesmerizing visual adventure through everlasting themes of good and evil, destruction and mercy, hope, family and second chances.

The film sets out to imagine the largely unknown life of Noah and his family, inviting audiences into both the spectacle and the heart of their experience as the earth disappears under a colossal deluge that will undo everything … yet lead to a new day for all Creation.

Opening across the Philippines on June 11, “Noah” will be distributed in the Philippines by United International Pictures through Columbia Pictures.

British actress (and new college graduate from Brown University), Emma Watson stars in Paramount Pictures' new epic adventure, “Noah” as Ila, an orphan Noah (Russell Crowe) adopts after finding her left for dead in a refugee camp. This creates a unique bond between them as she grows into a woman.

Taking the part is a departure for Watson, best known as Hermione Granger in the popular “Harry Potter” film series, who has grown to more mature roles in “My Week with Marilyn” and “The Perks of Being a Wallflower.”

“For Ila, we were looking for someone who has that innocence of a girl, but also could surprise us with the strength of an adult. Emma really brought that,” says screenwriter Ari Handel.

“Ila is a catalyst in the story,” adds producer Mary Parent. “As she grows up, there’s a love story with one of Noah's sons, Shem, but the impact she has on Noah, and his faith in particular, is very emotional.” (Another British actor, Douglas Booth, plays Shem.)

Watson says the role had her delving into areas of experience that were new for her. “I thought a lot about what it means for a woman to be able to have a family, and I thought a lot about the life that made Ila the person she is – living in poverty and seeing some very dark things. I think that makes Ila feel very close to Noah who saves her and brings her into his family, fueling her desire to have a family of her own. There’s a sense in the movie of generations, of family, of things passed down, which is very interesting.”

For Watson, director Darren Aronofsky’s approach to “Noah” was surprising but also moving. She summarizes: “I think when most people think of Noah’s story they just think of the animals walking two-by-two. But the story we tell is as much about what this family experiences -- the interpersonal relationships between Noah, his wife and their children. So even though it’s an amazing epic with incredible scale, it is also intimate and subtle.”

Inspired by the epic story of courage, sacrifice and hope, Darren Aronofsky (“Black Swan”) brings to the screen his personal vision of “Noah.” Academy Award® winner Russell Crowe portrays the man chosen to undertake a momentous mission of rescue before an apocalyptic flood destroys the world. The film offers a mesmerizing visual adventure through everlasting themes of good and evil, destruction and mercy, hope, family and second chances.

The production took the film’s world-class cast and crew on their own unexpected journey as they boarded a vast, rough-hewn Ark hand-built to precise biblical specifications. They then set out to imagine the largely unknown life of Noah and his family, inviting audiences into both the spectacle and the heart of their experience as the earth disappears under a colossal deluge that will undo everything … yet lead to a new day for all Creation.

Opening across the Philippines on June 11, “Noah” will be distributed in the Philippines by United International Pictures through Columbia Pictures.

Inspired by the epic story of courage, sacrifice and hope, Paramount Pictures presents the epic adventure “Noah” directed by Darren Aronofsky and starring Academy Award® winner Russell Crowe as the man chosen to undertake a momentous mission of rescue before an apocalyptic flood destroys the world.

The film offers a mesmerizing visual adventure through everlasting themes of good and evil, destruction and mercy, hope, family and second chances.

The production took the film’s world-class cast and crew on their own unexpected journey as they boarded a vast, rough-hewn Ark hand-built to precise biblical specifications. They then set out to imagine the largely unknown life of Noah and his family, inviting audiences into both the spectacle and the heart of their experience as the earth disappears under a colossal deluge that will undo everything … yet lead to a new day for all Creation.

Joining Crowe in the cast are Academy Award® winner Jennifer Connelly, Ray Winstone, Emma Watson, Logan Lerman, Douglas Booth, Dakota Goyo and Academy Award® winner Anthony Hopkins.

The entire story of Noah – the last righteous man in a world overtaken by wickedness, violence and corruption -- and the Ark he is commanded to build before earth will be destroyed, takes up just a few pages in the Book of Genesis. But those few passages have had a profound, lasting impact on billions across the globe, holding within the possibility of human redemption and hope even in the face of annihilation.

Yet remarkably, the story of Noah has never before been attempted as a full-scale, visual adventure, nor has any filmmaker delved directly into its core motifs of human failings, human fortitude and divine forgiveness.

“There are comedic versions, there are animated versions, and there was even a Broadway version with Danny Kaye that was a musical,” says “Noah” director and co-writer, Darren Aronofsky. “Historically, the approach has always veered towards folklore, humor and children’s stories. But if you look at the story’s place in Genesis, there is so much more to it than just the animals going two-by-two. It’s the story of ten generations of wickedness of man that eventually climaxes in God coming to a place where he wants to redo it all. For me, it was the very first end-of-the-world story.”

It was also a story he felt could be finally be told viscerally through 21st Century filmmaking techniques. He says: “I didn’t want to add further to the clichéd preconceptions we already have from pop culture … I wanted this Noah to feel fresh, immediate and real.”

Aronofsky’s fascination with “Noah” began at the age of 13: while writing a prize-winning school poem about Noah that Aronofsky initially realized he wanted to be a writer. Only later, as he began his filmmaking career, did he dare to dream of one day expanding the story into a hugely ambitious motion picture. He knew it would be the greatest challenge of his career. But he also began to envision a way to ground the story for today’s film audiences: by imagining Noah’s family – their fears and hopes, their conflicts and their search for meaning -- amidst these extraordinary events.

“As the story of the first apocalypse, imagining how a family would survive that was extremely interesting to me,” says the director.

That became the jumping off point for a writing process that would take Aronofsky and co-writer/executive producer Ari Handel deep into the unknown. Since the text of Genesis is brief, contains virtually no dialogue, and offers little suggest Noah’s feelings about the impending flood, they poured through a wide span of religious, historical and scholarly sources to better understand Noah’s times and the significance of his actions. They did not aim for line-by-line adherence to scripture, instead focusing on dramatizing what they saw as the essential themes of the Noah story and exploring the questions posed by the biblical narrative.

Opening across the Philippines on June 11, “Noah” will be distributed in the Philippines by United International Pictures.

Paramount Pictures has released the domestic and international poster art for its eagerly anticipated epic adventure, “Noah.”

Russell Crowe stars as Noah in the film inspired by the epic story of courage, sacrifice and hope.

Also starring Jennifer Connelly (“A Beautiful Mind”), Ray Winstone (“Beowulf”), Emma Watson (the “Harry Potter” film series), Logan Lerman (“Percy Jackson: The Lightning Thief”) and Anthony Hopkins (“Thor”), the film is directed by visionary filmmaker Darren Aronofsky (“Black Swan”).

Opening across the Philippines on April 02, 2014, “Noah” will be distributed in the Philippines by United International Pictures.