Darren Aronofsky’s Noah has certainly been ripe for criticism. Religious groups were against it from the start, with many detractors claiming it strayed far too far from the original text. But for one of the film’s marquee stars, Emma Watson – who plays Noah’s (Russell Crowe) adopted daughter Ila – adaptation was imperative in telling the story. 

Emma Watson NoahEmma Watson in Noah

"Darren does these very dark, very intense, very gritty, very real films," explained Watson to Nola.com. "And then Noah is kind of -- you see this guy with the long beard and there's the animals. ... You can't really picture it. I think it's a really original take on a genre, on a story, on an idea," she added to Nola.com.

The reviews haven’t matched the thoughts of those who have criticised the film; with a solid rating of 76% on Rotten Tomatoes – a figure that has been flittering around the mid 70s since the first reviews rolled in – Aronofsky will be quietly pleased about the success of his polarizing movie. 

“If we had gone with exactly the original story,” Watson explains, “Noah doesn't say anything until he steps off the ark. You would have been watching a silent film. None of the women are really spoken about in the biblical story. There wouldn't have been any women in it. He had to adapt it for the screen.

‘Noah’ has already opened in some parts of the world but it is banned in several areas of the Middle East with complaints that it contradicts the teachings of Islam. It has also been criticised by Jewish and Christian groups for straying from the biblical text.

Watch the trailer for 'Noah'