Noah Studio Cut Featured 'Religious Montage and Christian Rock Song'

In an attempt to find a version of Darren Aronofsky's biblical epic Noah that would appeal to devout Christians, Paramount Studios reportedly made a version that included a religious montage and a Christian rock song.

Over the past few months Paramount have been at loggerheads with the director over the final cut of the film, with Aronofsky wanting to keep his intended vision and Paramount wanting something that would appeal to the evangelicals of Americas' Deep South.

A profile on Aronofsky in The New Yorker details the struggle over the final version, and the multiple edits that were tested late last year.

"In December, Paramount tested its fifth, and 'least Aronofskian,' version of Noah: an 86-minute beatitude that began with a montage of religious imagery and ended with a Christian rock song," reveals the profile.

The version reportedly scored lower with Christian viewers than even Aronofsky's intended cut, leading to the studio caving in to the Black Swan director's pressure.

"Noah is the least biblical biblical film ever made," Aronofsky says, "I don't give a f**k about the test scores! My films are outside the scores. Ten men in a room trying to come up with their favourite ice cream are going to agree on vanilla. I'm the Rocky Road guy."

The film features a sequence depicting Darwinian evolution as well as what Aronofsky describes as "a huge [environmental] statement in the film ... about the coming flood from global warming". It also features a "dark" scene in which Noah (Russell Crowe) gets drunk and ponders wiping humanity from the face of the Earth.

Christian viewers apparently didn't like the scene, despite it actually taking place in the Bible.

Crowe stars in the film opposite Jennifer Connelly, Ray Winstone and Emma Watson.

The film is expected to be banned in Muslim countries due to rules on the depiction of prophets.