Evan Almighty is a 2007 American fantasy comedy film directed by Tom Shadyac and written by Steve Oedekerk, who co-wrote the story with Joel Cohen and Alec Sokolow. A spin-off and sequel to Bruce Almighty (2003), it stars Steve Carell and Morgan Freeman reprising their roles of Evan Baxter and God, respectively, alongside Lauren Graham, John Goodman, John Michael Higgins, Jimmy Bennett, and Wanda Sykes. The film is a modern-day retelling of Noah's Ark, which Evan reluctantly re-enacts on God's behalf while he also pursues a new career in government.
Production of the film began in January 2006. Several visual effects companies were used to provide CGI for the numerous animals and the climactic tsunami scene. By the time the film had completed production, it had become the most expensive comedy film ever, which would later be overtaken by Men in Black 3.
Evan Almighty premiered at Universal CityWalk on June 10, 2007, and was theatrically released in the United States on June 22 by Universal Pictures. Unlike its predecessor, it received negative reviews from critics and was not commercially successful, grossing $174 million worldwide.
Plot Newly elected to Congress, former television news reporter Evan Baxter leaves his hometown of Buffalo, New York and moves to Prestige Crest, located in the fictional town of Huntsville, Virginia, where his congressional campaign declares that he will change the world. Evan prays to God to give him this opportunity. His wife, Joan, also prays that she, Evan, and their three sons will be closer together as a family.
On his first day in Congress, Evan introduces himself to his staffers and then given the opportunity to join his greedy boss, Congressman Chuck Long, to co-sponsor his Citizens' Integration of Public Lands Act (CINPLAN) bill. Over the next few days, strange events occur in Evan's life:
Eight vacant lots in Prestige Crest are purchased under his name. Ancient tools and gopher wood are delivered to his house that he did not order. A man claiming to be God suddenly appears wherever he goes, causing him to faint during the Pledge of Allegiance. Pairs of animals start following him around everywhere he goes, with birds breaching into his office through the window. His hair and beard grow uncontrollably regardless of how many times he shaves. The number 614 starts appearing in various forms throughout his daily routines.
Evan realizes the number actually refers to verse 14 in chapter 6 of the Book of Genesis, where God instructed Noah to build an ark in preparation for a coming flood. God appears to Evan and asks him to build an ark because a flood is coming. Though initially hesitating, Evan starts building the ark on the vacant lots by using the tools and materials provided, giving him an opportunity to spend more time with his sons, but Joan sees this as a midlife crisis.
While Evan still maintains his career in Congress, his changing appearance alienates his staffers because of God and the animals who stalk him become more disturbing. God provides Evan an ancient robe and warns him that the flood will come by mid-day on the 22nd of September. This forces Long to fire Evan from Congress after he tries to explain his mission and warns the other congressmen about the impending flood. Joan falsely believes that Evan has gone insane and takes her sons to live with her own mother, leaving Evan himself to continue building the ark alone. Meanwhile, God disguises himself as a waiter at the restaurant, where he tells Joan that she should see this as an opportunity for the entire family to be closer. Joan understands God's meaning and decides to return to Evan to help him finish building the ark together to prepare for the flood.
On September 22, Evan's three staffers uncover evidence that Long has turned Prestige Crest over to private investors by damming off a lake, but he had cut corners in the dam's construction. They suspect Long would do the same with his Public Lands Act bill. With the ark finally complete, the animals board two by two and the police threaten to demolish the ark with a wrecking ball as it violates land codes in Prestige Crest. When only a small amount of rain falls, Evan realizes that the flood will be the result of Long's dam failing. When the dam actually fails, the entire community manages to board the ark and all the houses of Prestige Crest are destroyed. The ark then rides the floodwaters into Washington, D.C. by travelling through the National Mall until it reaches its final destination in front of the Capitol, which interrupts the vote for Long's Public Lands Act bill. Evan confronts Long on his accountability for the cost-cutting that lead up to the dam's failure, inciting the other congressmen to turn against him.
The voting for the Public Lands Act bill is suspended due to an investigation of Long's profiteering behavior. Evan is reinstated to Congress and all the animals return to their natural habitats. With his appearance returned back to normal, Evan re-encounters God during a family hike. God states that Evan had successfully changed his world by growing closer to his family because the key to changing the world is a single Act of Random Kindness (ARK). During the film's closing credits, God issues a new commandment to the outgoing audience: "Thou shalt do the dance", which is followed by the film's cast and crew members dancing to the C+C Music Factory song "Gonna Make You Sweat (Everybody Dance Now)".
Cast
Production
Screenplay The film's screenplay was originally titled The Passion of the Ark and was written by Bobby Florsheim and Josh Stolberg. It became the subject of a seven-studio bidding war in April 2004. The script was sold to Sony Pictures in a deal worth $2.5 million plus a percentage of the profits, a record for a spec script from previously unproduced writers. Universal Studios immediately made a deal to co-produce the script with Sony Pictures and have Steve Oedekerk rewrite it into the sequel to Bruce Almighty. Oedekerk had been involved with Bruce Almighty as an executive producer and co-writer of the screenplay (with Steve Koren and Mark O'Keefe, who wrote the story). The studio later discarded the original The Passion of the Ark script completely, and Oedekerk fashioned a new script from scratch (only he received final credit on the finished film as screenwriter). Jim Carrey was asked to reprise his role as Bruce in the sequel and, when he declined, director Tom Shadyac convinced Steve Carell to accept the leading role. Shadyac, reflecting on the first film, stated "[Carell] delivered some of the funniest stuff in the movie. We thought, 'Why not take that character and spin him off into a different film?'"
Unlike the first film, Bruce Almighty (2003), Buena Vista Pictures Distribution (through their Buena Vista International label) was not involved in financing, co-producing and as an international distributor for the sequel.
Casting Jim Carrey declined to reprise his role from the original Bruce Almighty and has said that he is "not a big fan of doing the same character twice." This marked the second time a sequel has been made to a film for which Carrey declined to reprise his role, the other being Son of the Mask.
Budget The initial budget, at approximately $140 million, led Evan Almighty to become the most expensive comedy film ever made. Added costs such as set construction, visual effects, and problems with filming multiple animals in a controlled location brought the budget up to $175 million. Once marketing for the film was also included, the film's entire spend was estimated to be around $200 million. The ballooning budget caused Sony to drop the project and hand it over entirely to Universal Studios. Part of the budget was Carell's payroll, where he earned a reported $5 million for his leading role. The Virginia Film Office estimates the film brought $20–25 million to Virginia, with the majority of it in the Charlottesville area. Universal defended the cost of the film, saying it was "designed as a four-quadrant film, and therefore poised for bigger [box office] returns than typical comedies."
Ark design and construction
Construction of the ark began in January 2006 and the scenes involving the ark were shot in a Crozet, Virginia, subdivision called Old Trail. The ark was designed to meet the actual measurements of the biblical ark, measuring long, wide, and high. The ark's layout was also based on pictures in several children's books that crew members had read in their childhoods. When the characters were filmed during the day building the ark or were on location elsewhere, crew members would further construct the ark at night. A concrete base was built to support the weight of the large ark; after filming was completed, the ark was taken down in a week, and the base in another week.
In disassembling the set, everything that was salvageable from the ark was donated to Habitat for Humanity. "Leave no trace" was the slogan used by the director as a part of one of the DVD's bonus features, "The Almighty Green Set".
Costumes and filming locations
To create Evan's beard and long hair, three designers would take three hours each day adding individual hairs using prosthetic adhesive and making Carell wear custom wigs. The wigs consisted of both human and yak hair. With his new look, Carell was sometimes nicknamed "Mountain Man", "Retrosexual", or "Unabomber." For his costumes, designers spoke with textile experts, researched historical information on the clothing that was likely worn at the time of Noah, and used aged fibers for the clothing.
Scenes for the film were filmed in various locations in Virginia, including areas in and around Crozet, Madison, Waynesboro, Richmond, Charlottesville, and Staunton, though some filming did take place at Universal Studios in Hollywood, California.
Visual effects For the CGI used throughout the film, companies Industrial Light & Magic (ILM) and Rhythm & Hues Studios (R&H) developed different parts of the film. R&H focused on the animation of the animals, while ILM completed the final scene of the ark rushing through Washington, D.C. Lindy De Quattro, the ILM associate visual effects supervisor, revealed that "This is the first time where we had to do a whole series of shots that were happening mid-day, where you were going to get a really long look at the water and what it was doing." The company initially experienced problems creating the water effects and had to develop new tools that would choreograph the movements of the water. In addition, ILM used similar tools that were used on their prior film Poseidon. Lighting was also an issue as the characters on the ark had been filmed on a greenscreen stage, and the visual effects company had to ensure that the lighting matched that of the characters and the outside setting. Details were added to the ark for long-distance shots to make the design of the ark more appealing and relate the ark's size to scale in comparison to the amount of water. To complete the scene, ILM used thirty to sixty crew members and produced 200 shots over a yearlong period between April 2006 and May 2007.
Rhythm & Hues created 300 pairs of animals for use on the ark and fifteen pairs with higher detail for closeup shots. R&H was also assisted by C.I.S. Hollywood, another visual effects company, who provided a large number of composites, involving hundreds of greenscreen animal elements. In scenes where there are multiple species of animals, crew members would film the animals on the greenscreen and R&H and C.I.S would digitally add the animals one at a time, sometimes taking several weeks to a couple of months. Andy Arnett, the animation supervisor, declared that "The research was extensive. It took six or seven months to perfect the look and feel of the animals before we had the first shot out the door."