Aronofsky Talks The Wrestler And What He's Doing Next

RopeOfSilicon got a chance to talk with Darren Aronofsky about his new film as well as some of the other projects he's got looming in the future. Aronofsky has some interesting things to say about getting notorious bad-boy Mickey Rourke to commit to the project and how it was working with him. He also talks briefly about his upcoming Noah project, which is still very early in its development. It'll be made into a graphic novel first (Aronofsky, you'll remember, also put out a graphic novel version of his original draft of The Fountain), though there is a draft of the script kicking around already. The RoboCop relaunch is also still in the works, though no script has been completed yet. So either of those could wind up bring Aronofsky's next directing gig, or maybe even a different movie altogether. The Wrestler opens in limited release on December 17th.

And to revisit talk about the recut version of The Fountain, Aronofsky spoke to FirstShowing and offered some clarity. Sort of. He's now labeling it as more of a "redux," though even he admits that he's not sure what that words means. He expands:

It's something more for fans. I worked on the film for 6 years and it went through a lot of versions. And there was one version that was much closer to one of the scripts that we had. And we kind of chose between which way we would go with it and they both are kind of interesting. So I was always curious for myself to see what that alternative version would be. And we cut it actually recently, it's done. I would have to get Warner Brothers to support it and get it out there.

The film didn't do too well at the box office, but maybe the fan following its developed on DVD can eventually spur Warners to move forward with the redo/redux/recut. Added Aronofsky, "It's very similar but it's looking at a few things in a few different ways and answers a few questions for people and raises some new questions in other ways." For those who were puzzled by The Fountain, this new version could hold the answers you were seeking. Or not. But for a film as stunning as The Fountain, does it really matter?