More Designs For The Watchers From Darren Aronofsky's NOAH

If you've already seen or you're planning to see Darren Aronofsky's Noah you may be caught off guard by the appearance of fantastical creatures known as The Watchers. These giant rock-like creatures were left out of all marketing material by Paramount. No glimpse of them in official stills, or television spots, or even the numerous trailers. The only time that we've seen them is from a tweet that the director made months ago announcing Nick Nolte as a member of the cast. Nolte voices the lead Watcher, Samyaza. I assume the reason behind their exclusion was a preventive measure, as to not add any more controversy to a film that has already received its fair share. And, why are The Watchers potentially controversial? Well, The Watchers were first referred to in The Book of Enoch. It is an ancient Jewish religious work, that is not part of the biblical canon (extra-canonical). Who's Enoch? He's said to be the great-grandfather of Noah. The Watchers are described as 200 fallen angels (cast out of heaven) that lusted after human women. When those sons of God mated with the daughters of men their offspring became known as the Nephilim. For you biblical scholars, "Nephilim" is referred to twice in the Hebrew Bible.

In his film, Aronofsky takes quite a bit of liberties with The Watchers. They're fallen angels, but in his version of events they felt compassion for Adam and Eve and that is what sparked God's wrath upon them. Thus, God unleashes his rage by turning them into rock-like creatures. Over time humans turned on The Watchers and killed off most of Them. The ones that survived decide to help Noah build his ark.
Concept Art by Jerad S. Marantz

NOAH is a close adaptation of the Biblical story of Noah’s Ark. In a world ravaged by human sin, Noah is given a divine mission: to build an Ark to save creation from the coming flood. The screenplay was written by Darren Aronofsky and Ari Handel and revised by Academy Award®-nominated screenwriter John Logan (GLADIATOR, HUGO). Scott Franklin and Aronofsky of Protozoa Pictures, along with Mary Parent of Disruption Entertainment, will produce the film. The film will be executive produced by Ari Handel (BLACK SWAN), Arnon Milchan of New Regency and Chris Brigham (INCEPTION, ARGO).

Noah is directed by Darren Aronofsky ("The Wrestler"), and stars Russell Crowe, Jennifer Connelly, Emma Watson, Ray Winstone, Logan Lerman, Douglas Booth and Anthony Hopkins.