Four years after the release of Bruce Almighty, Tom Shadyac remained intrigued by the spiritual. 

Though having declined offers to sequels before, he very much wanted to return to familiar territory with this next installment in the Almighty series. 

“We always thought it would be fun to make different chapters in a God series rather than just make a straight sequel to Bruce Almighty,” remarks the director.  “It always felt more fruitful, creatively, to spin off different characters.” 

With Evan Almighty, the director delivers the uproarious laughs he provided in films from Patch Adams to The Nutty Professor—comedies interwoven with morality tales, done in Shadyac’s inimitable way. 

Whereas Bruce Almighty debated the question of where true power comes from, this episode of divine intervention delves into what can be forsaken in the pursuit of happiness, and the humor that lies in that conundrum.

The search for an actor with the comic versatility to step into the lead role proved a bit easier than any of the filmmakers expected.  A 40-year-old virgin who just so happened to be an alum of Bruce Almighty answered their prayers.  

Steve Carell’s small but standout performance as Bruce Nolan’s nemesis, the preening, über-confident newscaster who is reduced to a babbling on-air mess, was the perfect segue for the next chapter. 

Carell’s success on Virgin and his popular, Golden Globe-winning performance as manager Michael Scott on NBC’s television series The Office had recently further showcased his comedic talents.  The filmmakers were impressed and excited about the possibilities.

Recalls Shadyac, “Steve did such an amazing job in Bruce Almighty; everybody remembers his scenes.  He delivered some of the funniest stuff in the movie.  We thought,  ‘Why not take that character and spin him off into a different film?’  We already had the basic idea where God would come to someone and say, ‘Build an ark.’”

Story-wise, the filmmakers envisioned their lead character as a polished professional brimming with ambition and self-importance, yet imbued with a genuine desire to make a difference in the world.  It was a premise that Shadyac and the producers realized could fit seamlessly with the character of Evan Baxter from Bruce.

“For this film, we’ve taken the American dream to its nth degree, which has nightmarish consequences,” Shadyac comments.  “Evan desires the biggest house, biggest car, biggest job—the biggest everything—but he doesn’t understand the cost of all that.  He ultimately discovers that everything he does has a cost.”

Producer Michael Bostick notes, “There was something about the characters that Steve created that we thought would be great fun for God to come into Evan’s life.  And it just so happened that not only did it work for story purposes, but it was a blessing that Steve’s star was on the rise as we were developing this movie.”

For Carell, the opportunity to reprise the arrogantly funny Evan Baxter was one he couldn’t overlook.  The actor was interested in expanding his role because of the direction in which Evan, a character with relatively little screen time in the last film, could go.

He explains: “I think this story is more of Evan’s journey to find out who he really is, as opposed to who he’s been posturing to be.  His campaign promises were about changing the world, but they’re empty.  And along the way, he finds that a platitude is one thing, but an actual effort and a self-awareness is something that is only gained through pain, suffering or introspection.”

With the title character cast, it was time to check in with the Academy Award®-winning actor who could be the only one to bring God back to the big screen: Morgan Freeman.

In 2002, when the filmmakers initially reviewed their casting options for the role of God, Shadyac maintained that Morgan Freeman was the only actor he could see in the role.  Securing his return as The Almighty was paramount to the creators when considering any type of sequel. 

In their minds, there was no one else to don the whites and anoint a new messenger with a crucial and hilarious message.  The director and producers agreed that Freeman—complete with his elegant dignity and infamously wicked sense of humor—was the only option.

Producer Bostick succinctly states: “There’s only one God, and there’s only one Morgan.  He absolutely has that awesome, commanding presence.”

For Freeman, coming back to his role had everything to do with working with the director.   “Tom so enjoys what he does, and people who enjoy their work primarily do things well.  He is one of those people that I have an easy rapport with.”
The acclaimed actor is the first to admit that his niche is not always comedy.  “Me, I’m not a comedian.  Write it down, and I’ll say it,” he says with a chuckle.  His philosophy is simple: “Learn the lines and be as honest as you can.  If the material is funny and the timing is right, it will be funny.”

Working with the legend would prove a bit intimidating to the cast and crew, but Freeman instantly put them at ease, and proved to be quite the joker on set.  Recalls Carell, “Morgan just wanted to be accepted like everyone else, and not with any sort of greater reverence.  There’s such a calm to him and a confidence without arrogance.”

Armed with the triple threat of Carell, Freeman and another script written by Steve Oedekerk—a frequent collaborator of Shadyac’s on such comedy classics as Ace Ventura: Pet Detective and Liar Liar—Shadyac and the producers were on track to recreate the magic that made Bruce Almighty a worldwide box-office hit.  Now, they just needed an arkload of animals.

Lions and Tigers and Alpacas… Live Animals of Evan Almighty

According to the Book of Genesis, God’s creatures instinctually gravitated toward Noah two by two.  The filmmakers on the set of Evan Almighty, however, had to look to veteran animal coordinator Mark Forbes to oversee the selection, care and training for well over 177 different species brought in from all over the country. 

From his first meeting with the team, Forbes knew he needed to surpass his past efforts on films such as Dr. Dolittle 2 to fill the prow of Evan’s mighty ship.

“It’s Noah’s Ark. You have to have lots of animals,” Shadyac plainly states.  “We have the most animals ever shot practically in a movie in show business history.  And every animal you’ll see in Evan looks seamless and very integrated, as each animal was placed into each shot individually.”

Of the head trainer who helped work this magic, the director notes, “Mark Forbes is a miracle worker, and we could not have done this movie without him.  He had to work with each animal individually, since each animal specifically responds to different things.  It’s very precise.”

Forbes unveiled a veritable zoo that included lions, tigers, pelicans, leopards, giraffes, elephants, Kodiak bears, baboons, zebras, reindeer, camels, raccoons, cats, porcupines, dogs, buffalos and snakes, to name but a few.  The menagerie surrounding them on a daily basis enamored cast and crew alike.  Notably, animals were supervised by AHA representatives whenever filming of them occurred. 

Of utmost importance to the filmmakers was to keep to the theme of Noah’s biblical tale.  Shadyac wanted the animals to help build the ark with the natural tools God gave them (e.g., an elephant would “hand” Evan a piece of timber with her trunk or a crow would bring Evan a nail in his claw).  The filmmakers didn’t want common gags, such as talking chimps and parrots rolling their eyes, to color the production.

Carell’s on-screen wife, Lauren Graham, remembers the surreal aspects of filming with her co-stars: “People will be amazed at how much the animals really could do.  They’re incredibly trained.  You can say specific things to the elephants and they understand.  ‘Rosie, move your right foot.  Dixie, back up to the ark.’  You just strangely get used to being close to these incredible animals and interacting with them.”

But it was Carell who ended up spending the most time with his furry or feathered, two- or four-legged cast members.  “I probably had a harder time remembering my lines than they did doing anything they had to do,” laughs the actor.
Though amazed at the tasks that the animals were able to accomplish as they helped to build the ark, the actor had strong feelings about several of them.  “The elephants, actually, were very soulful, as were the giraffes,” Carell offers.  “There was an intelligence that you could see in their eyes.  But the alpacas and camels were fairly disgusting.  It’s literally an ungodly smell that comes from them.”

All of the animal training began weeks, and sometimes months, prior to their respective arrivals on set.   Acclimating and training them for specific behaviors—especially for tasks that were consistent with their natures—was the norm on Evan Almighty and took the majority of the planning and shoot time for the filmmakers, including cinematographer Ian Baker.  It also took quite a bit of nurturing from Forbes.

With so many different animals working so closely together, Forbes and his team of trainers made sure that exact safety precautions were taken during filming, particularly when it came to predator-prey issues with so many different species on hand.  “I couldn’t put a wolf next to a sheep and have a nice, calm set,” he states.  “Some of these animals are food to the others.  So, we would film them separately to ensure it’s safe for the animals and safe for the crew.

“We would film the owls, and then we would put up a blue screen behind them,” Forbes continues.  “And then we would film the pigeons flying in, and then we’d shoot the doves, and then the eagles flying in.” 

Often, domestic animals would take the place of wild ones for purposes of lighting.  Two horses, for example, would stand in for larger, more dangerous animals such as rhinoceroses, which would later be shot against a blue screen and mapped in by the visual effects team—who provided many CG birds and mammals to complement the insane zoo—and compiled by film editor Scott Hill.

Director Shadyac was up to the challenge, but he wasn’t quite sure what he had gotten himself into by directing animals.  “Seriously, we’re composing shots with these animals, and you’re asking a 1,000-pound bear, ‘Two inches to the left, Mr. Bear.  Could you hit your mark?’  It’s a bear, after all.”

Animal harmony came at a minor cost to the human actors’ egos.  Of Carell, Forbes laughs: “What a trooper.  The very first day that we’re shooting with animals, we have him covered in pigeons and doves and blue jays.  And he’s got bird poop all over him, and he’s got all these birds fluttering around, landing on his head.  Steve’s been wonderful with them.”