‘Noah’ Featurette: Religious Leaders Defend Controversial Epic
Paramount’sNoahhas come under fire from certain religious leaders, but the movie has its religious fans, too. Several of them have stepped up to defendDarren Aronofsky’s Bible-based epic in a new featurette crafted by Christian media speakerPhil Cooke, praising it as a “powerful,” “profound,” “pro-faith and pro-God” work.
Even if you’re not particularly religious, the video is well worth checking out. ScreenwriterAri HandelandNoahbiblical advisorJohn Snowdenoffer their insights into the making of the movie, while various Christian leaders discuss some of the major themes of the story. Check out theNoahfeaturette, and learn how it came to be, after the jump.
Nevertheless, not everyone was buying it. The studio found themselves criticized by some Christians who were upset that Aronofsky was taking liberties with the classic tale. Eventually, they compromised with one group byadding a disclaimerto the marketing explaining that “artistic license has been taken.”
But those detractors didn’t speak for all religious folks. Cooke was one of the picture’s most vocal defenders, writing a lengthy blog post urging his fellow Christians to see it. It caught Paramount’s attention, and the studioasked himto put together a featurette with Christian leaders discussing the movie.
The video runs about seven and a half minutes long, but about three minutes of it is just quotes from various religious leaders, set to music. Among the people featured are Focus on the Family presidentJim Daly, Trinity Grace Church pastorJon Tyson, Hollywood Prayer Network founderKaren Covell, and American Bible Society CCOGeof Morin.
It’s worth pointing out (as Cooke has) that most of those railing againstNoahhaven’t even seen the movie, so it’ll be interesting to see how the conversation evolves once the movie actually opens this weekend. This featurette likely won’t change the minds of those who are dead set against the film already, but maybe it’ll convince people on the fence to give it a shot.
