Hey, everyone. ”Moriarty” here.

I will take any tidbit of info I can get on whatever Aronofsky is doing next, and I’m pleased that talkback regular Bobo Vision decided to send this report in:

Hi Moriarty,

Bobo_Vision here. This afternoon, myself and about seventy others sat in on a panel discussion at the Tribeca Film Festival with Darren Aronofsky, Billy Shebar (screenwriter), and Sidney Perkowitz (screenwriter and professor of physics). The topic of the discussion was the use of science in films, and the portrayal and stereotypes of scientists in movies. I was surprised that to find the theatre was only one-third full. I became aware of the fact that while Aronofsky may be extremely popular and well-loved among film buffs, to the general public he's fairly unknown. At one point in the discussion, Shebar started to make reference to how he heard that in 'The Fountain', the universe is represented in small details, but then he deferred to Aronofsky who could better speak on the subject, at which point Aronofsky joked that it served as proof of how few people had actually seen 'The Fountain'.

The discussion focused on movies in general rather than their specific films, though the film he referred to the most was 'Pi'. He mentioned how his roommate in college was a math major and served as a source of insight into that film's main character. The discussion began with an exploration of the "mad scientist" character in movies, with reference to a quote by James Cameron who mentioned how scientists in movies are often portrayed as either complete nerds, or evil psychopaths. Aronofsky said that he actually likes the "mad scientist" character because it serves as a hyperbole of those in science and academia who lead very isolated lives, working alone or in small groups in an extremely competitive environment where the stakes are very small. He told an anecdote about a friend of his who quit a career as a marine biologist to work in film production. Aronofsky was surprised and asked her why she would give a career like that up to work in the cut-throat world of film-making, to which she replied that the competition in science makes the movie business seem like nothing.

I was interested in hearing some information regarding his upcoming movie projects, specifically the "Noah" project I read about on AICN. He was tight-lipped, but I got a few clues. When asked about what direction film would take with regards to science, he said, "I'm working on something with regards to environmental destruction, and I think we'll see more of that because its a hugely important topic." Environmental destruction? Interesting. I take this to mean the "Noah" story will be a modern-day adaptation. "Generally, in movies, I think we'll see things like cloning, mixed reality, different levels of consciousness. I hope we see more psychological science fiction. I think what James Cameron is working on will probably change the framework of science fiction once again."

Another clue I got about his next movie came from a question about religion and science: "I like the idea of trying to combine science with mysticism. Science can only take you so far, but the blending of science with faith can get you to the emotional core of those answers. Film is a wonderful medium to tap into great spiritual moments, as well as the science around them."

That concluded the discussion, and most of the people cleared out, but I approached the stage for the opportunity to meet Aronofsky. I must admit, I've never met anyone famous before. I'm Canadian, and have only been living in New York for two years now, so living this close to the film industry is new to me. I realize that Aronofsky isn't really famous because he could walk down the street without getting recognized, and he's really down-to-earth, but it was an enormous leap from having never met anyone remotely famous to meeting someone whose work you respect and admire. So I was pretty nervous.

As I stood waiting to meet him, I thought of the things I wanted to tell him, like how I loved 'Requiem for a Dream', or ask about the significance of certain scenes in 'The Fountain, or what it was like filming Jennifer Connelly in a sex scene, but I was too nervous to say any of those things. When the moment came, I offered my hand and said, "Nice to meet you", without introducing myself.

"Hi, I'm Darren."

"Oh, uh, I'm (Bobo_Vision)", I answered sheepishly. "Um, can you tell me anything about the Ark movie?"

"No, sorry, I can't talk about it. But I have to go back and get to work on it. Its looking good so far, and hopefully it will get made."

I told him I enjoyed meeting him, and then scurried away nervously. So with regards to the "Noah" movie, perhaps its tied to the environmental destruction he mentioned earlier by way of global warming, melting of the ice caps, the raising of the water levels to give a modern-day Noah's Ark story. Science combined with Faith. Sounds pretty awesome. I'm looking forward to it.

Bobo_Vision