Hurricane Sandy headed toward Russell Crowe's 'Noah' ark

By John Horn

Oct. 29, 2012 12 AM PT

Hurricane Sandy has shut down production on at least half a dozen New York television shows and feature films, but none more ironically than Russell Crowe’s “Noah.”

Writer-director Darren Aronofsky’s film about the biblical flood and ark postponed shooting Monday, but the more pressing question is what will happen to the movie’s colossal boat. Aronofsky’s production team built two massive ships—one inside a Brooklyn sound stage, the other in the water at Oyster Bay, N.Y.

And Oyster Bay, a small inlet on the Long Island Sound, is very much in the path of Hurricane Sandy, with local flooding and wind gusts of up to 63 mph reported in the area.

The outdoor ark, which measures 450 feet long and is 75 feet tall and 45 feet wide, was not intended to be seaworthy. With production on the film wrapping up soon, the ark was scheduled to be used only sparingly in the weeks ahead and was partially dismantled over the last several days. But if the storm damages the Oyster Bay boat materially, “Noah” may need to organize some flood repairs.

Emma Watson, who co-stars in the film opposite Crowe, sent out a Twitter message Sunday night saying, “I take it that the irony of a massive storm holding up the production” of the film was not lost on her director or Crowe. Aronofsky used his down time to catch up on some movies, seeing “Cloud Atlas” and “The Master.”

Paramount Pictures’ “Noah” is set for release in March 2014.

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