It never occurred to me that Darren Aronofsky’s upcoming film, Noah, would be targeted towards evangelical Christian audiences. The biblical story is one that was always going to draw attention from religious groups and moviegoers, but given Aronofsky’s work in the past, it seemed unlikely that he’d garner much attention, or interest, from such groups.

But Christian media watchers have, in fact, been paying attention. Specifically, the National Religious Broadcasters, who’ve taken issue with the adaptation of the story from the Book of Genesis for the Russel Crowe starring movie. NRB has been seeking Paramount Picture’s help in striking “a proper balance between artistic creativity, character development, and honoring the sacred Scripture.”

To that end, Paramount has agreed to amend all marketing and advertising for Noah with the following message:

The film 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. The biblical story of Noah can be found in the book of Genesis.

This is an interesting concession for a unique challenge in telling a very famous story. While there have always been discussions over the “true story” tag being attached to films (based on, inspired by real events, etc), there’s a much more complicated consideration to be made when dealing with what some consider “sacred scripture.”

For an audience member like myself (I’m excited to see this one, personally), the idea that Noah might not hew closely enough to its source is of no concern. After all, there’s not enough material to inspire a feature film if the text is going to be faithfully rendered. Still, this is The Bible. Creative interpretation always runs hard against what some consider Truth. That a film based on an Old Testament story about a flood covering the earth, and a family building an arc to house the animals of the world, could run afoul due to creative license says a lot about the sensitivities that remain not just in our film-going culture, but in our sense of religious ownership as well. For many Americans, the bible story of Noah is sacred scripture. It is their story. Any adaptation will necessarily come with at least some controversy.

In the hands of a filmmaker like Aronofsky, who makes strange, extreme, and occasionally brilliant films, perhaps NRB and other Christian groups are justified in their concern for sacred scripture. Of course, no religious denomination, let alone media group, has the market on how the story of Noah should be read, interpreted, or adapted. Regardless, this solution seems acceptable to both Paramount and to NRB, who upon hearing of the compromise, said, “We think audiences all over the world will enjoy this epic film.”

And as someone with no stake in the “sacred scripture” argument, I’m just happy they didn’t go with “based on a true story”