Emma Watson defends Noah: 'Aronofsky had to change Biblical story for big screen'

The actress said the director needed to add in more female speaking parts

Emma Watson attends the New York premiere of Noah (Getty Images)

Emma Watson has defended Darren Aronofsky’s Biblical film Noah after religious groups claimed the movie is blasphemous.

The actress said the director had to adapt the original story to include more female roles and to give the characters dialogue.

“If we had gone with exactly the original story, Noah doesn’t say anything until he steps off the ark. You would have been watching a silent film,” she said.

“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.”

The 23-year-old actress added she was initially unsure about the Black Swan director choosing to tell the Old Testament story.

“Darren does these very dark, very intense, very gritty, very real films. 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,” she told the Associated Press.

Watson, who plays Noah’ s adopted daughter Ila in the film, said the movie is an "original take" on the story.

Her comments follow Aronofsky’s, who said the film is the “least biblical biblical film ever made”, and called his protagonist Noah, played by Russell Crowe, “the first environmentalist”.

The film has made some departures from the biblical account of the ‘event’, with an early reviewer claiming God’s name is not mentioned once.

It has sparked criticism from some Christian and Muslim groups, forcing Paramount to release a statement explaining it is “inspired by the story of Noah”.

“While artistic license has been taken, we believe that this film is true to the essence, values, and integrity of a story that is a cornerstone of faith for millions of people worldwide,” it said.

Read more: Noah is 'the least biblical biblical film ever made'
Noah banned in three Arab countries before worldwide premiere
The best movies of all time