--- title: Pope Francis and Russell Crowe Won't Be Meeting About 'Noah' After All description: The actor has been campaigning the Holy See to screen his new film "Noah" but studio Paramount Pictures says an informal chat was never on the cards canonical: https://time.com/28458/pope-russell-crowe-noah/ author: Megan Gibson article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-03-18T13:16:24.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-19T07:41:36.231Z article:section: Entertainment og:title: The Pope and Russell Crowe won't be meeting after all og:description: The actor has been campaigning the Holy See to screen his new film "Noah" but studio Paramount Pictures says an informal chat was never on the cards og:url: https://time.com/28458/pope-russell-crowe-noah/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt08695e4484190aa3/698685f53bc99942da1a2648/184212430.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 2835 og:image:height: 1595 og:image:alt: Russell Crowe - Omer Celik og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: The Pope and Russell Crowe won't be meeting after all twitter:description: The actor has been campaigning the Holy See to screen his new film "Noah" but studio Paramount Pictures says an informal chat was never on the cards twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt08695e4484190aa3/698685f53bc99942da1a2648/184212430.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Pope Francis and Russell Crowe Won't Be Meeting After All > Sponsored content. 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Terms and conditions apply. * Savings buckets are a feature of Ally Bank's Savings Account. * No ATM fees from Ally Bank at Allpoint and Moneypass ATMs plus we reimburse for fees charged by other ATM owners nationwide up to $10 per statement cycle. * Early direct deposit offers eligible direct deposits up to two days sooner. * Spending buckets are a feature of Ally Bank's Spending Account. ## Video: Noah Trailer [Watch (HLS stream): Noah Trailer](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/2zyGyJZM.m3u8) (2:26)  _Published 2014-03-11. Russell Crowe plays Bible hero Noah in Darren Aronofsky's interpretation of the epic._ by [Megan Gibson](https://time.com/author/megan-gibson/) ## Megan Gibson Mar 18, 2014 1:16 PM UTC  Russell Crowe speaks to the media outside the Mecidiye Kiosk on 12 October 2013 in Istanbul, Turkey. Russell Crowe speaks to the media outside the Mecidiye Kiosk on 12 October 2013 in Istanbul, Turkey. Anadolu Agency—Getty Images by [Megan Gibson](https://time.com/author/megan-gibson/) ## Megan Gibson Mar 18, 2014 1:16 PM UTC Apparently it takes more than a Twitter campaign to woo Pope Francis. _Variety_ reports that a tentatively scheduled meet and greet between Pope Francis and the team behind _Noah_ has been canceled, despite star Russell Crowe’s Twitter campaign to draw the Holy See to the project. > [](https://twitter.com/russellcrowe/status/437800152300937217) > [](https://twitter.com/russellcrowe/status/438408113059024896) > [](https://twitter.com/russellcrowe/status/438407585344258049) Crowe is in Italy to promote the film along with director Darren Aronofsky and Paramount Pictures executives, ahead of its U.S. release on March 28\. [_Variety_ originally reported ](http://variety.com/2014/film/news/exclusive-pope-cancels-meeting-with-russell-crowe-for-noah-photo-op-1201136436/)that a meeting between the Pope, Crowe and Aronofsky had been scheduled for Wednesday, but the Vatican canceled over fear that the arrangement would cause a “spectacle.” But Paramount denies that a meeting was ever set in stone, according to _T_[_he Hollywood Reporter_](http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/paramount-denies-report-pope-canceled-689114?utm%5Fsource=Sailthru&utm%5Fmedium=email&utm%5Fterm=hollywoodreporter%5Fbreakingnews&utm%5Fcampaign=THR%20Breaking%20News%5Fnow%5F2014-03-17%2014%3A00%3A29%5FHLewis). The studio told _THR_ that they contacted the Vatican about Crowe attending the papal general audience in St. Peter’s Square on Wednesday, but the Vatican wasn’t thrilled with the idea. Paramount told _THR_ that the Vatican thought Crowe’s appearance could disrupt the weekly prayer event, so the studio abandoned the idea. However the rejection played out, it looks like Crowe’s Twitter stalking was in vain. \[[_The Hollywood Reporter_](http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/paramount-denies-report-pope-canceled-689114?utm%5Fsource=Sailthru&utm%5Fmedium=email&utm%5Fterm=hollywoodreporter%5Fbreakingnews&utm%5Fcampaign=THR%20Breaking%20News%5Fnow%5F2014-03-17%2014%3A00%3A29%5FHLewis)\] ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/28458/pope-russell-crowe-noah/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/28458/pope-russell-crowe-noah/"},"headline":"Pope Francis and Russell Crowe Won't Be Meeting After All","datePublished":"2014-03-18T13:16:24.000Z","dateModified":"2026-08-19T07:41:36.231Z","description":"The actor has been campaigning the Holy See to screen his new film \"Noah\" but studio Paramount Pictures says an informal chat was never on the cards","url":"https://time.com/28458/pope-russell-crowe-noah/","keywords":["movies","Pope Francis","Vatican","pope","Noah","Russell Crowe","Rome"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt08695e4484190aa3/698685f53bc99942da1a2648/184212430.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Megan Gibson","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/megan-gibson/"}],"articleSection":"Entertainment","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt08695e4484190aa3/698685f53bc99942da1a2648/184212430.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Russell Crowe - Omer Celik","caption":"Russell Crowe - Omer Celik","creditText":"Anadolu Agency—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/entertainment/","name":"Entertainment"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/movies/","name":"movies"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/28458/pope-russell-crowe-noah/","name":"Pope Francis and Russell Crowe Won't Be Meeting After All"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"Noah Trailer","description":"Russell Crowe plays Bible hero Noah in Darren Aronofsky's interpretation of the epic.","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/2zyGyJZM/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2014-03-11T19:12:16.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/2zyGyJZM.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/28458/pope-russell-crowe-noah/","duration":"PT2M26S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/28458/pope-russell-crowe-noah/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```