Prior talks culminated today as it was confirmed by Paramount and New Regency that Darren Aronofsky's forthcoming Biblical epic Noah has found its titular lead. While the fable famously features a raven and a dove, the film will do one better and add a crow.

A Russell Crowe, that is.

Crowe brings to the Noah role experience as not only a tested captain at sea, but also as a subject of schizophrenic delusion. The screenplay is a collaboration between Aronofsky and Ari Handel, who is co-credited for the story in The Fountain. John Logan, most recently Oscar-nominated for Hugo, revised. The movie begins shooting in July, with a projected March 2014 release, in New York and Iceland. Expect more CGI animals than the Madagascar films and a plot of roughly the same perspicacity.

[via Collider]