Movie

The poem titled 'The Dove' was written by the 'Black Swan' director when he was in seventh grade and read by his former teacher in front of 'Noah' cast during the movie's premiere.

• Mar 29, 2014

AceShowbiz - As "Noah" sails to U.S. theaters this weekend, Darren Aronofsky's former teacher, Vera Fried, says his idea for the biblical pic dates all the way back to 1982 when the director was just in the seventh grade. He wrote a poem about his own version of the epic story for a class assignment she gave, and it won a United Nations poetry competition.

Three decades later, the "Black Swan" director contacted Fried to thank her for inspiring him to become a writer. "I didn't hear from him for 33 years, and then he sent me the unpunctuated email," she told Variety, recalling that the young Aronofsky used to punctuate perfectly.

Aronofsky gave her a cameo role in the movie and invited her to the movie's premiere at the Ziegfeld Theater in New York. He called her to the podium, handed her the old poem, and asked her to read it out loud in front of Russell Crowe, Jennifer Connelly, Emma Watson, and other A-list guests. "I was crying," she said. "If he has some of his other papers, I'd take them."

Despite facing controversies from religious communities, "Noah" gets off to a good start. In North America, it grossed $1.6 million on its opening Thursday night, surpassing the $1.1 million cume of last week's Christian pic "Son of God" and the $1.4 million collected by "Gravity" on Thursday night last year. While "Son of God" finished its first weekend with $25.6 million, "Noah" is expected to reach a triumphant $40 million.

Overseas, "Noah" collected an estimated $2.6 million in Russia alone on Thursday. Overall, it has raked in $22 million from four locations, Mexico, South Korea, Australia, and Russia. The movie will expand to wider market by Friday.

The Dove A Poem by Darren Aronofsky January 13, 1982

Evil was in the world The laughing crowd Left the foolish man at his ark Filled with animals When the rain began to fall It was hopeless The man could not take the evil crowd with him But he was allowed to bring his good family.

The rain continued through the night And the cries of screaming men filled the air The ark was afloat Until the dove returned with the leaf Evil still existed.

When the rainbows reached throughout the sky The humble man and his family knew what it meant The animals ran and flew freely with their newborn The fog rose and the sun shone Peace was in the air And it soon appeared in all of man's heart.

He knew evil would not be kept away For evil and war could not be destroyed But neither was it possible to destroy peace Evil is hard to end and peace is hard to begin But the rainbow and the dove will always live Within every man's heart.