The original Noah had a job of biblical proportions — animal uprisings, water leaks, cat dander. At least he didn’t have to follow Jim Carrey.
Steve Carell does.
“Evan Almighty,” opening Friday and starring Carell as God’s handmaiden, is director Tom Shadyac’s quasi-sequel to his 2003 Carrey-driven megahit “Bruce Almighty.”
For “Evan,” Shadyac said, he wanted Carrey. He got Carell. He should thank God, regardless of how God feels about being played in the films by Morgan Freeman.
Over the last half-decade Carell has established himself as Mr. Ubiquitous: “The Daily Show.” “Anchorman.” “Melinda and Melinda.” “Bewitched.” “The 40 Year-Old Virgin.” “Over the Hedge.” “Little Miss Sunshine.” “The Office.” Next year he’ll play Maxwell Smart in the big-screen version of TV’s “Get Smart.”
Meanwhile, seagulls are pooping on his nice blue suit.
“That’s what they do,” Carell said, recalling a scene in “Evan.” All the animals follow Evan around: They want him to take them on the boat that God has told him to build.
“Basically,” he said, “all the animals that would not eat us were on set.”
According to Shadyac, God wanted “Evan Almighty” to be made.
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“Let me say, first of all, there’s no bigger Jesus freak in this room than me,” the director said, ” ’cause when I was as young as I can remember, having cognition and thought, I was looking at this Jesus guy and going, ‘Whoever this is, this is somebody that’s blowing my mind.’ “
Carell’s co-star Wanda Sykes, on the other hand, said if someone named God came up to her on the street and told her to build an ark, “I’d give him a dollar and keep it movin’.”
Somewhere in the middle is Carell, who takes what seems to be a perhaps slightly too-serious attitude about public reaction to a movie that takes the Lord’s name in vain, profanes Holy Word and commits blasphemy with every frame.
“It’s really not about religion,” he protested. “… People do, and should feel free to, believe what they do and worship what they do, or not, but for me to single out what I do, I don’t know, it seems to put a spin on the movie it doesn’t need. I want it to be available to anybody. And I think it is.”
OK then. But dude, we want to know about you: What’s your career plan?
“You know, there’s absolutely no calculation to it,” he said. “Certainly you can do edgier comedy, more R-rated things that have a much narrower audience you’re targeting, but it wasn’t calculated in my mind. … I thought seeing this guy Evan’s fall from grace and redemption would be an interesting plotline to follow. I thought there’d be a lot of comedy generated from everyone thinking he’s crazy, and he can’t explain the truth.
“But I also like the idea that it has a more general appeal, because I’ve never done a movie that I think my friends, my kids and my parents will like, and do something like that without it seeming preachy.”
The subject matter of “Evan Almighty” attracted more than the usual attention of faith-based press last week during a press day on the Universal lot in Burbank. Hungry nuns were spotted at the buffet table, making Carell laugh.
“I think with this we’ve been able to strike a balance between something that isn’t offensive, and is kind, without seeming to be pandering or cloying or looking like we’re shoving a message down anybody’s throat,” he said. “I don’t know, I liked it. I was really proud of it when I saw it.”
Carell’s title character, Evan Baxter, was a newscaster in “Bruce Almighty” and is a newscaster in “Evan Almighty” — before he becomes a congressman and would-be Noah. Carell also was a caster of non-news on “The Daily Show.”
The actor is moving out of his Newscaster Phase to “the body-hair period of my career.” In “Virgin” he famously underwent a body-waxing. In “Evan,” he acquires a persistent beard that makes him look like a member of the Old Testament or, as Sykes put it, “the guy from Fleetwood Mac.”
Carell’s grace under pressure — all the abuse and the birds and the ark-building — earned the admiration of his “Evan” co-stars.
“We sort of had more dramatic scenes together,” said ex-“Gilmore Girl” Lauren Graham, who plays Carell’s wife. “And he’s a real actor. He worked from inside the character, small, subtle. He wasn’t like, I’m doing something wacky and big!’ “
Carell said he looks for projects he thinks will be good, not waiting necessarily, for the voice of God. Or Morgan Freeman.
“On the other hand, I just like to be employed too,” he said. “So I just keep working. I don’t want to be too precious. Oh, well, I really want to do a drama, something to stretch me as an actor.’ I just want something that’s good.”