Today I wrote Noah director Darren Aronofsky, whom I’ve long considered to be something of an industry pally. Okay, an acquaintance. He and his editor peruse the column, he told me during the Black Swan days. I told him about my plan to drive down to old Tijuana to see Noah on Friday, 3.21 (i.e., the day it opens in Mexico, which is five days sooner than the L.A. all-media on 3.26), and asked him for a phone interview if he’s so inclined. He’ll probably defer to Paramount p.r.’s decision to blow me off because of my anti-Christian rants. The Noah marketing drill is probably something along the lines of “sell the awe and the spectacle and the Aronfsky integrity factor, and don’t alienate the nutter Christian right.”

Slashfilm’s Peter Sciretta and Noah director Darren Aronofsky sometime before or after last night’s premiere screening in Mexico City.

Anyway, my sign-off line was “what’s with the shaved head? I thought you were a ladies man.” Darren’s Vin Diesel look…I don’t know what it means but it indicates he’s been going through something. Guys shave their heads for roughly the same reason that they grow beards — as a way of saying “fuck it!” to their community or the world at large. (Or to themselves as they stare in the bathroom mirror.) Cue balls also indicate that the guy has been going through some kind of convulsive trial or life-change. In the context of uptown American culture (and not, say, within a tribe of chanting Hare Krishnas) shaved heads rarely indicate serenity. They’re a sign of turbulence and transition. Aronofsky is definitely telling us that things are not the same. Which is fine. Artists go through trials and tribulations. In any event I love and respect the guy, and I’m looking very much forward to my Mexican Noah screening.