Emma Watson ill on Aronofsky’s set or…

Emma Watson, who was named yesterday Actress of Year by Elle Magazine, told on the March issue of Wonderland magazine a terrible experience that happened to her on the set of the expected colossal Noah (here the trailer).

And this time it is not being in the midst of Hurricane Katrina.

The director Darren Aronofsky banned plastic bottles in an effort to echo the film’s environmental concerns. But Emma (who plays Ila) and her co-star Douglas Booth (who plays Noah’s son) ended up shooting at 4 o’clock in the morning, tired and delirious without water to rehydrate themselves.

“Because of the storm, Douglas [Booth, ed] and I ended up shooting most of our scenes between 4am and 7am” said the actress “and at that time I never function well. Because the film has a pro-environment message, Darren didn’t want anyone drinking from plastic water bottles on set either. So that made things slightly harder. Everything we used had to be recycled or recyclable. Having no water bottles on set at five in the morning, when you’re exhausted and delirious, wasn’t ideal. I was so tired one morning I picked up a mug from my trailer and drank some stagnant water that had been there for the duration, so three months. I was so ill. I came in the next day and was like: ‘Darren, I don’t think I can do this, I’m really sick,’ but he was like: ‘Use it for the scene.’ And I turned round to the bus and was like: ‘Is he joking? He is joking right?’ and there was deadly silence”.

Apparently this is not the only crazy story happened on set. After Watson pointed out that even veteran British Ray Winstone (who plays Noah’s nemesis Tubal-Cain) struggled with the filming conditions.

Co-star Douglas Booth said: “We started filming in the summer in New York. It was so hot that Ray Winstone at one point, who wore a beard and heavy make-up, nearly fell down a flight of stairs”. And Emma added: “His make-up was literally melting off his face. Then we decided to shoot the soaking wet scenes. We literally went through all the seasons”.

After the controversy surrounding the final with the Paramount Studios and the dissatisfaction of some religious groups, is legitimate to think if this story (maybe slightly true but definitely inflated) is not just another publicity stunt to fuel expectations around a $130m budget movie.

The film, in which Russell Crowe takes the main cheracter, is due for release in US cinemas on 28 March and in the UK on 4 April.