Moviemaker Ridley Scott fears he may have upset his Gladiator leading man Russell Crowe after picking apart his 2014 biblical epic Noah.

The Brit admits he wasn't a big fan of director Darren Aronofsky's film about the Great Flood, and found certain scenes tough to watch, particularly those featuring the "rock men" who come to Noah's aid as he fights to escape the elements and armies of men attempting to raid his ark.

Scott says, "Those rock men really should be part of the Hobbits. I think he's (Darren Aronofsky) a great director but the rock men, come on; I could never get past that.

"Russell Crowe is a good friend of mine, so I'll probably get a horrible email from him! But that was the problem: you begin with that voice and it's hard to work past that. It's hard enough to work past that without saying, 'I'm gonna build a boat and on it is gonna go creatures two by two' - and make that credible. But that's what we do for a living."