Evan Almighty

[MacGuffin]

Almighty 2 Then! The Sequel is Coming
Source: Variety

Sony Pictures Entertainment, Universal Pictures and Spyglass are in talks to mount a Bruce Almighty sequel based on the Bobby Florsheim/Josh Stolberg script "The Passion of the Ark," reports Variety.

Talks are just getting under way, but the plan is to court Jim Carrey to reprise and to have Tom Shadyac return as director. Carrey is said to have left the door open for another installment after the first proved to be the biggest-grossing hit of his career.

Screenwriter Steve Oedekerk will be enlisted to refit "Ark" into a sequel. The "Ark" script could work with another actor, who'd play a widowed writer who's chosen by God to prepare for the second great flood.

Universal is expected to run the production and will likely distribute domestically.

[A World Apart]

WHY?   If this is true I wanna shoot myself in the face.
The whole premise is even flawed considering the fact that God said He would never flood the earth again!!!!!!!

[Just Withnail]

He probably saw the first one.

[Ravi]

This proves there is no God.

[Just Withnail]

Which in turn hopefully will make the producers realize the sequel is absolutely meaningless.

[MacGuffin]

Carell on a Role
The 40-Year-Old Virgin star Steve Carell likely to receive ten times his salary to star in a sequel the blockbuster Bruce Almighty. By Mark Umbach, FilmStew.com

According to a report in Daily Variety, The 40-Year-Old Virgin star Steve Carell is getting back in the ring with God...and he'll get a big pay raise to do it. Carell is currently in negotiations to reprise his role as Evan Baxter in Evan Almighty, a sequel to the 2003 blockbuster hit Bruce Almighty. The studio hopes to begin filming the project early next year with director Tom Shadyac back at the helm.

The project, written by Steve Oedekerk, was originally hatched for Jim Carrey to reprise his role, but Carrey later turned down the part. Now, the film will center on Carell's news anchor character, who begins a quest to build a giant ark in preparation for a great flood. Neither Carrey nor Jennifer Aniston will be reprising their roles, although Morgan Freeman has started negotiations to bring his God back to the big screen.

When Carrey decided not to reprise his role in the sequel, the producers, who include Shadyac and his Shady Acres partner Michael Bostick, turned immediately to Carell, who opened Virgin in the top North American box office spot last weekend with $21.4 million. A deal is quickly coming together with Carell's Endeavor reps, and it's likely that Carell will take home $5 million for the role...a large raise from his $500,000 Virgin payday.

Should a deal come together, Spyglass Entertainment partners Gary Barber and Roger Birnbaum will produce with the Shady Acres team, as will Neal Moritz. Donna Langley and Holly Bario will be the executives in charge over at Universal.

Evan Almighty is likely to shoot around Carell's The Office schedule. Carell is currently in production on the second season of the NBC series, which is produced by the NBC Universal Television Studio. Other Carell big screen credits include Melinda and Melinda, Sleepover and Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy.

[Kal]

That will probably be a terrible movie... but damn I'm happy for this guy. His stock is rising.

He should do another movie with the Brick Tamland character too.

[Ravi]

That will probably be a terrible movie... but damn I'm happy for this guy. His stock is rising.

I wish Carell would do projects that only involve funny people like Adam McKay, Judd Apatow, etc. instead of people Shadyac and Oedekerk.

[MacGuffin]

Carell's ALMIGHTY Summer
Universal decides to push back the Bruce Almighty sequel, the Steve Carell-starring Evan Almighty, to summer 2007.
By Mark Umbach, FilmStew.com

Universal Pictures is banking on Steve Carell fans enjoying the summer heat rather than the hustle and bustle of the holidays. The studio has decided to release the Bruce Almighty sequel, Evan Almighty, on the Friday before July 4 rather than the planned release date of the Friday before Christmas, according to Daily Variety.

Evan was set to face off against 20th Century Fox's comedy Night at the Museum and an animated adaptation of Charlotte's Web, from Paramount Pictures, in the December 22, 2006, slot, but now Evan will have the June 29, 2007, spot all to itself. Paramount and DreamWorks Pictures will release the highly-anticipated Transformers feature five days later, however, stirring up some competition for the Almighty.

Production on Evan Almighty began last week. Directed by Tom Shadyac, who also directed Bruce Almighty, Evan sees Carell reprising his role of Evan Baxter, who is contacted by God (Morgan Freeman) and ordered to build a giant ark to prepare for a coming flood.

Back in May 2003, Bruce Almighty opened with a mighty $85.7 million and went on to gross more than $242 million at the domestic box office. Currently Evan Almighty is the first film Universal has slated for the summer 2007 season.

[ᾦɐļᵲʊʂ]

At least it's later than sooner.

[SiliasRuby]

Great gem of a movie that showcases what Jim can do. I look forward to the carell's turn.

[edison]

From USA Today

In the 2003 comic fantasy Bruce Almighty, Jim Carrey had the power while filling in for Morgan Freeman's God.
But in Evan Almighty, Steve Carell has the hair.

All that yanked chest fuzz when Carell got a wax job in The 40-Year-Old Virgin? It's replaced and then some when God (a returning Freeman) transforms the news anchor-turned-congressman into a modern-day Noah in the sequel to Carrey's hit, now shooting in central Virginia.

And if that weren't hair-raising enough, Carell gives voice to a furry creature, a hyper squirrel named Hammy, in the animated Over the Hedge, opening May 19.

"Olivier had his different noses. I have my hair," says the actor, musing over his hirsute pursuits while on a set with a partly built epic-size ark.

For the first half of Evan Almighty, the star of NBC's The Office (Thursdays, 9:30 ET/PT) cements his status as a rising movie lead as a preening politico who uproots his family to the D.C. area. Summoned by a prayer, God materializes before the self-absorbed Evan Baxter, insisting he build an ark before a great flood arrives. Though Evan initially resists, he is unable to contain his hair growth, a spurt of biblical if not pubescent proportions.

"There are all different lengths of hair and beards, and each has a code name," says Carell, shown sporting his final transformation as Noah in an exclusive first-look photo from the June 2007 release.

Other stages: Mountain Man, Marlboro Man, the Unibomber, Ten Commandments (which segues into the Metrosexual with ponytail and braided beard) and Longest Brown.

"I was really comforted by the fact that Tom (Shadyac, the director) didn't want to do any onscreen werewolf-y transformations," says David LeRoy Anderson, the two-time Oscar winner (The Nutty Professor, Men in Black) who oversees the special-effects makeup. "It doesn't work for this."

Each shift is revealed to Evan — while waking up or glancing at a mirror — at the same time as it's shown to the audience.

The wigs are handmade from human hair, with some yak for extra body. The beards are hand-applied with prosthetic adhesive. "It's not too horrible, just a couple hours in the morning," says the actor.

His favorite look? "Just my own," he says. "That's the easiest one to get into. But it even takes a while to make me look like me, which is sort of sad and scary at the same time."

[MacGuffin]

Carell, Freeman are cut-ups on the 'Evan Almighty' set
By Susan Wloszczyna, USA TODAY


WAYNESBORO, Va. — Morgan Freeman might be playing God again. But, right now, this stately big-screen presence is acting the fool while on the set of Evan Almighty, the sequel to 2003's Bruce Almighty.

And the spectators gathered on Main Street in this Mayberry-esque burg couldn't be more delighted.

In the sequence being shot today, God materializes in a number of guises to persuade newly elected Congressman Evan Baxter (Steve Carell, upgraded to top billing) to build an ark as a modern-day Noah.

Freeman is supposed to simply stride across an intersection and point purposefully at Carell, who cowers behind the wheel of a Hummer. Instead, the 69-year-old Oscar winner, in baggy jeans and sideways construction helmet, swaggers through the crosswalk before he grabs his crotch and strikes a rapper pose.

The crowd eats it up like cheap popcorn.

"That's his dope take," says returning director Tom Shadyac of the improvised bit that probably won't make the cut in the PG-rated family outing. Watching the replay, executive producer Ilona Herzberg remarks, "Did you know God is funny?"

Anyone who saw Freeman give the business to Jim Carrey in the original is well aware the Lord can deliver laughs. They also know that Carell's Bruce Almighty performance as a pompous TV news anchor unwittingly broke one of Hollywood's 10 Commandments: Thou Shalt Not Steal Scenes From the Star.

Carrey declined to do the sequel, already pegged as a box-office contender for summer 2007. "I talked to Jim about it for almost a year," Shadyac says. "He's not a big fan of doing the same character twice, so eventually we just decided to move in different directions."

Instead, Carell is the star, and a rapidly rising one at that, who scored last year in his first film lead as The 40-Year-Old Virgin and headlines the popular NBC series The Office. Generally, such a major casting change does not bode well for a follow-up. But not this time.

"His price is skyrocketing as we speak," Shadyac says. Carell, 42, is earning a reported $5 million.

The script was adapted to the former Daily Show regular's comic strengths: Unlike Carrey's underdog TV reporter who was emboldened by subbing for God, pretentious politician Evan is stripped of power and humbled by doing the Lord's bidding.

Carell won Freeman's blessing.

"Jim has a more manic quality," he says. "He works hard to get it just so. Steve has a quieter approach. It's more acting."

"No one plays funnier when he's put upon," Shadyac says of his new leading man. "Steve has had years of improvisation experience, and he is clandestinely hysterical. He doesn't walk around like a showman, but when the show is on, he can turn it on."

The day before, the show was taking place in a sprawling subdivision about a half-hour away in Crozet, where an ark is being erected. The roughhewn vessel will be 450 feet long, 80 feet wide and 51 feet high. "We based it on what is found in the Bible," production designer Linda DeScenna says.

Not only does Evan have three sons just like Noah, but he also exhibits an inconvenient animal magnetism once creatures sense a flood is nigh. Hence, it has become commonplace for residents to spy such members of the film's 200-plus menagerie as elephants Rosie and Dixie hanging out in the neighborhood.

Today, Carell's physical transformation into Noah — scratchy burlap robe, Teva sandals, flowing hippie hair and scraggly beard — is nearly complete. He is filmed hoisting himself on a swing with an assist from crewmembers and pounding nails into the ark.

"Evan has big ideas," the actor says, explaining his character's foibles as he takes up the cause of saving the environment. "But he is a little self-aggrandizing. He doesn't see the big picture yet." He smiles. "But let's see if he does by the end of the film."

Whereas Carrey got to peep under women's skirts and enlarge girlfriend Jennifer Aniston's breasts, Carell contends with poop, fake hair and hard labor under a hot sun. "I don't get to do the saucy stuff," he says.

There is one cast member who has gotten extremely close to Carell: Barnum, a mutt who was discovered in a pound and is believed to be a charismatic mix of boxer and Rhodesian ridgeback.

"He's fascinated with a specific part of my body, which you will see in the movie," the actor explains.

"He's the main animal character," says head trainer Mark Forbes. "And, yes, he likes Steve a little too much." Blame the director. "Tom Shadyac's dog is always nudging him in the groin area. So he asked us to teach Barnum that behavior."

Now Barnum does it too well, even after the camera stops. Says Forbes, "Tom was at the monitor and laughing so hard he couldn't even say 'Cut.' "

[MacGuffin]

Budget Overruns of Biblical Proportions
Universal tries to tame spending that may make 'Evan Almighty' the costliest comedy ever.
Source: Los Angeles Times

In Universal Pictures' upcoming "Evan Almighty," comedian Steve Carell plays a Noah-like congressman commanded by God to hoard hundreds of animals in an ark the size of a cruise ship.

In real life, the movie is taking on water. Studio executives are struggling to tame a soaring budget that will probably make the film the most expensive comedy ever.

Unexpected costs for visual effects and the logistical challenges of filming hundreds of live animals have turned what was supposed to be a $140-million movie into a $160-million one that could climb as high as $175 million by the time it's finished. With marketing expenditures, the film is expected to cost at least $250 million.

Although movies going over budget is common, a 25% overrun is high, even by Hollywood standards. Studios are loath to spend too much on comedies because they usually have less success with audiences abroad than do action films.

On an expensive movie, Hollywood relies on international box office to make its money back.

Studio executives acknowledged that they underestimated the cost of "Evan," a sequel to the 2003 hit "Bruce Almighty." But they are confident it will be profitable.

"This movie is a great bet," said Universal Chairman Marc Shmuger. "It's a spectacle fantasy and also a comedy. And a sequel to one of the most successful hits in the studio's history."

Former Universal studio chief Stacey Snider and her boss, Universal Studios President Ron Meyer, gave the movie the go- ahead in December. Snider left in April to join DreamWorks SKG.

Snider's successors, Shmuger and co-Chairman David Linde, say most of the added expenditures came from 11 extra shooting days in Virginia, where the production, which began filming in March, encountered bad weather as well as delays from trying to coordinate animals and children's shooting schedules.

People close to the production say the studio was pushing for a December release that cut the film's preparation time by more than half — from six months to a little more than two. With so little preparation time, they said, the filmmakers were unable to properly map out details of what would prove a complicated shoot.

In addition, if they had waited one month to begin production they would have avoided much of the bad weather.

This is the first time Linde or Shmuger have overseen a production of the scale of "Evan."

Before his promotion, Shmuger oversaw marketing and distribution for Universal while Linde handled lower-budget specialty films as co-president of Universal's Focus Features. "Bruce Almighty," which starred Jim Carrey, grossed more than $500 million world-wide. However, "Bruce" cost half the amount of the sequel.

At $175 million, "Evan" would hold the dubious honor of being the most expensive comedy ever. "Evan" will surpass such other visual effects comedies as "Wild, Wild West" at $170 million, followed by "Men in Black II" at $140 million, said Brandon Gray, president of Box Office Mojo, a box office tracking service. Although "Men in Black II" was a hit, "Wild, Wild West" was a costly misfire.

The studio is counting on the universal appeal and familiarity of the biblical story of Noah's Ark. And Carell is a rising star in Hollywood, coming off last year's hit "The 40-Year-Old Virgin" and the popular sitcom "The Office."

In "Evan," Carell, who had a relatively minor role in "Bruce Almighty," plays a self-obsessed congressman who learns the value of helping others when he is told by God (played by Morgan Freeman) to build an ark to prepare for a flood.

"It's based on two story sources: 'Bruce Almighty' and the Bible, both of which were incredibly successful," Linde said.

The story calls for a storm and flood of biblical proportions, which helps explain some cost overruns. Rendering a realistic look to chaotic events such as fires and floods takes many hours — usually days — to generate the computer images.

Meanwhile, filming hundreds of animals presented its own problems. Predatory creatures such as lions and tigers cannot be shot with monkeys and giraffes. Filmmakers must abide by numerous regulations regarding the treatment of animals, and even the best-trained animals do not always follow orders. Sometimes a color or a scent can throw off an animal, delaying filming.

"Unpredictable things happen," said Jeff Okun, vice chairman of the Visual Effects Society. "Animals have good days and bad days too. You have to hope for the best, but plan for the worst."

The movie also called for the building of massive set pieces, including at least three arks — the largest of which was 450 feet long and 65 feet high on the set in Virginia. Bad weather hampered set construction and cost the production millions, according to people on the production.

Tom Shadyac, the director of both "Evan" and "Bruce," does not have extensive experience with visual effects films and is known more for such straight-up comedies as "Liar, Liar" and "Ace Ventura: Pet Detective."

Shadyac declined to comment.

The cost overruns on "Evan" prompted the movie's profit participants, who take a certain percentage off the first dollar made by the studio at the box office, to adjust their deals. They will not start collecting their take until the studio recoups its production and marketing costs.

The ballooning numbers come as all studios are attempting to slash budgets and crack down on rich talent deals that cut into their profits. With DVD sales flattening, box office revenue decreasing and production and marketing costs rising, studios try to lower their risks by finding outside financing partners. Sometimes they scrap expensive movies altogether.

In May, 20th Century Fox pulled the plug on the Carrey comedy "Used Guys" because of its $115-million price tag. Paramount Pictures refused to move forward on another Carrey movie, "Ripley's Believe It or Not," because the budget was creeping above $150 million.

Originally, Universal hoped to co-finance "Evan Almighty" with Sony Pictures Entertainment, which considered distributing the film abroad. However, after analyzing the numbers, Sony passed after determining that it would be difficult to make money given the budget and profit participation deals, according to a studio source.

Relativity Media, a film financing company with a deal to co-finance 16 movies at Universal, agreed in May to pay for half of the "Evan" production budget, a Relativity spokeswoman said.

But even with a partner, "Evan" could end up costing the studio at least $163 million, including worldwide marketing costs of about $75 million.

"Evan" comes amid a challenging year for Universal. "Miami Vice," which cost at least $135 million, sank at the box office. Its latest releases, the murder mystery "The Black Dahlia" and the musical "Idlewild," also flopped.

Still, the studio is expected to be profitable this year, thanks in part to hits such as "The Break-Up" and "The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift," which have grossed $189 million and $147 million worldwide, respectively.

Universal is relying on "Evan" to be one of its biggest hits next summer, along with the third installment of the thriller franchise "The Bourne Ultimatum" and the comedy "I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry."

Gary Barber, chief executive of Spyglass Entertainment, one of the producers on "Evan Almighty," said although the film had gone over budget, he too was confident of its appeal.

"Is it costing a little more than we wanted? Yes," he said. "Is it worth it? Definitely. This has the potential to be bigger than the original."

[MacGuffin]

Teaser Trailer

Release Date: June 22nd, 2007

Starring: Steve Carell, Morgan Freeman, Lauren Graham, John Goodman, Jimmy Bennett

Directed by: Tom Shadyac

Premise: A self-obsessed congressman learns the value of helping others when he is told by God to build an ark to prepare for a flood.