The name Noah probably conjures an image of a pious old man with a big wizard-style beard.  This iteration does indeed have a beard, but it's far from wizardly.  Instead, this Noah looks a lot like Russell Crowe, with some good shaggy hair and a determined glint in his eye befitting a man who would construct a massive ark at god's command.

Aronofsky's had a passion to get this story told for years going back to his adolescence, and it's a fascinating follow-up to his unhinged ballerina movie.  He's been tweeting many a snapshot from the Icelandic set over the last several weeks, and yesterday he provided a preemptive heads up on today's picture, tweeting, "first look USA today today, let me know what you think."  True to Aronofsky's word, the image dropped at USA Today not long ago.

The story of Noah is a familiar one, but Aronofsky is a singularly ambitious filmmaker, as evidenced by Pi, Requiem for a Dream, The Fountain, The Wrestler, and Black Swan.  Even if any of those films aren't exactly your flavor, you still have to admit they're the work of a guy who knows what he's doing and doesn't particularly care to compromise.  This time, he worked with screenwriter John Logan, who previously contributed to Gladiator, as well Rango and this year's Skyfall and Lincoln.

Crowe leads a pretty crazy cast that includes Jennifer Connelly, Emma Watson, Anthony Hopkins, Ray Winstone, Kevin Durand, Logan Lerman, Dakota Goyo, Douglas Booth, and Marton Csokas.  Any movie that features Hopkins, Connelly, and Watson has got to be doing something right.

Noah is scheduled to arrive in theaters on March 28, 2014.