Over the last few days, Darren Aronofsky’s Noah filled several key roles. Douglas Booth and Logan Lerman signed on to play two of Noah’s three sons, while Emma Watson currently negotiates to play Booth’s love interest. However, what’s happening with Noah’s wife, Naameh, and his rival?
For quite some time, Academy Award-winning actress Jennifer Connelly seemed to be the frontrunner to play Naameh. If she ends up taking the role, she’ll be reunited with her A Beautiful Mind co-star Russell Crowe, who leads the film as its titular ark builder. Well, there’s at least one other actress on whom Paramount has its eye.
Sources recently told Variety that Julianne Moore is Connelly’s main competition to play Naameh. However, the four-time Academy Award nominee is filming the remake of the classic horror film Carrie alongside Chloë Moretz and under the guidance of Kimberley Pierce, so scheduling conflicts might prevent her from officially joining the film. On the other hand, Connelly isn’t slated for any upcoming projects at the moment.
Filming begins next month, so Paramount might hand the role to Connelly due to her empty slate. Issues with scheduling prevented Dakota Fanning from stepping into the role for which Watson now negotiates. She earned the part, which those close to her say could have been "the greatest role of her career," but Fanning's attachment to Naomi Foner’s Very Good Girls kept her from hopping on board for Noah. Apparently this was the role for which Academy Award nominee Saoirse Ronan also contended at one point, so we obviously shouldn’t expect her to join the cast.
Lastly, Liev Schreiber now stands as the frontrunner to play Noah’s nemesis, a role for which Liam Neeson once seemed likely. There’s still no word on how that character actually serves as a nemesis to Noah or how he fits into the scenario of the film, but when considering the two names that have been linked to this role so far, the character should make for a rather exciting character.
Paramount currently aims to bring Noah, along with his family, nemesis, and ark, to theaters across the United States on March 28, 2014.
