The first image of Russell Crowe playing the title role of Darren Aronofsky's 2014 bibical epic, Noah, has arrived online via USA Today and you can check it out below.

For a bigger version of this image, head to USAToday.com

As eagle-eyed readers will notice, there's not a lot much going on in the picture apart from Crowe's rugged face, but there's still something rather encouraging about this extra piece of proof that the Iceland-shot project is genuinely happening.

Written by John Logan (Gladiator, The Aviator, Hugo and many more) and Aronofsky himself, it's not a traditional retelling of the age-old bible story but a radical reimagining, complete with giant angels called 'Watchers'.

As for the rest of the cast, you can look forward to the likes of Jennifer Connelly (playing Joan of Ark Noah's wife, Naameh), Douglas Booth and Logan Lerman (Noah's sons, Shem and Ham), Emma Watson (a close friend of Shem's, Ila), Anthony Hopkins (Noah's grandfather Methuselah, who is as old as, well... he's very old) and Ray Winstone as an as-yet unnamed character who acts as Noah's enemy.

If you want other hints and titbits about the project - including pictures of puffins - be sure to follow Aronofsky on Twitter where he's posting regular photos of the production as it happens.

Noah is set to hit cinemas in the UK and the US on March 28, 2014.