{"id":9443,"date":"2007-05-25T06:38:18","date_gmt":"2007-05-25T13:38:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/filmchat\/?p=9443"},"modified":"2016-04-08T10:41:58","modified_gmt":"2016-04-08T17:41:58","slug":"interview-tom-shadyac-evan-almighty-2007-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/filmchat\/2007\/05\/interview-tom-shadyac-evan-almighty-2007-2.html","title":{"rendered":"Interview: Tom Shadyac (Evan Almighty<\/i>, 2007)"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

\"\"<\/a>LOS ANGELES, CA \u2014 Tom Shadyac made his name as the director and producer of such lowbrow comedies as Ace Ventura: Pet Detective<\/i> and The Nutty Professor<\/i>. Then he took the bathroom humour in a more spiritual, if occasionally schmaltzy, direction with Liar Liar<\/a><\/i>, Patch Adams<\/a><\/i> and the phenomenally successful Bruce Almighty<\/a><\/i>.<\/p>\n

All of Shadyac\u2019s previous films were rated PG-13 in the United States, but his newest film \u2014 Evan Almighty<\/a><\/i>, in which God tells a man to build an ark, just like Noah \u2014 is rated a family-friendly PG. Shadyac, sitting down with several journalists on the Universal Studios backlot, is eager to let everyone know that the film is \u201csafe.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was a conscious effort to invite everyone to this movie,\u201d he says, right off the top. \u201cIf it\u2019s an ark story, with animals and a flood and a big boat, I thought it would be insane to not invite a two-year-old and a grandparent and everyone in between. The ark story speaks to everyone, and I thought this movie ought to, [as well].\u201d<\/p>\n

That doesn\u2019t mean it\u2019s entirely free of poop jokes and the like, though; but this time, it\u2019s the animals \u2014 hundreds and hundreds of them \u2014 that make the mess. And Shadyac makes no apologies for the scatological humour, which he says reflects his own sense of childlike wonder, and amusement, at the way God made the world.<\/p>\n

Humour and faith<\/b><\/p>\n

Asked how he reconciles the humour with his religious beliefs \u2014 Shadyac says he attends a Catholic church and is a self-described \u201cJesus freak\u201d \u2014 he speculates that God \u201cmight say, \u2018Who do you think designed the human body? I have a whole lot of ways to go with this elimination thing!\u2019<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd so we\u2019ve been designed in this miraculous, marvellous, humorous, funny, serious, dramatic way. And so the fact that I, at my best, can return to childlikeness always speaks to spirituality, not against it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bruce Almighty<\/i> came out four years ago, and surprised many people by marrying its below-the-belt humour to an earnest discussion of love, free will and the need to submit to God\u2019s plan for our lives. It also happened to come out one year before The Passion of the Christ<\/a><\/i> woke Hollywood up to the fact that films made for the church market can make lots of money. Is that why Evan Almighty<\/i> is so much \u201csafer\u201d?<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m not doing anything different, I\u2019m just doing movies that speak to me, whether there\u2019s a Passion<\/i> effect or not,\u201d he says. \u201cBut as far as the studio goes, they are aware that the faith-based audience exists. It\u2019s the great unknown X-factor.<\/p>\n

\u201cNobody knows what it will do on this movie, nobody knew what it would do for The Passion<\/i> or Narnia<\/a><\/i>, but they are aware now \u2014 they have evidence \u2014 that there are people out there who are a new audience that can come to the movies in droves if they feel a kindred spirit with the themes and tones of the movie.\u201d<\/p>\n

Evan Almighty<\/i> brings back two of Bruce Almighty<\/i>\u2019s stars: Steve Carell, who, as Evan, practically stole the show from Jim Carrey; and Morgan Freeman, who plays the warm, humorous and compassionate God. (He even laughs when Evan tells him his plans.) Shadyac says the God that appears in his movies is \u201cvery personal to me. I\u2019m very exacting with it \u2014 how he delivers [his dialogue], the way he says it.\u201d<\/p>\n

What would He say?<\/b><\/p>\n

And what would God warn us about now, if we could speak to Him?<\/p>\n

\u201cI think He would say, \u2018I\u2019ve already warned you.\u2019 I always had a dream about Jesus, looking me dead in the eye, when I was very young, and He said, \u2018I never knew you.\u2019 Right into the gut and the soul. It\u2019s already out there, it\u2019s been said. I don\u2019t think He needs to say much more.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe need to listen to what\u2019s been said, we need to incorporate and act on what\u2019s been shown us through the lives of others and the written word.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2014 A version of this article was first published in <\/i>ChristianWeek.<\/i><\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

LOS ANGELES, CA \u2014 Tom Shadyac made his name as the director and producer of such lowbrow comedies as Ace Ventura: Pet Detective and The Nutty Professor. Then he took the bathroom humour in a more spiritual, if occasionally schmaltzy, direction with Liar Liar, Patch Adams and the phenomenally successful Bruce Almighty. All of Shadyac\u2019s […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1116,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[167,3532],"tags":[1379,1341,55,1359],"class_list":["post-9443","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-christianweek","category-interviews","tag-bruce-almighty","tag-evan-almighty","tag-noah","tag-tom-shadyac"],"yoast_head":"\nInterview: Tom Shadyac (Evan Almighty, 2007)<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"LOS ANGELES, CA -- Tom Shadyac made his name as the director and producer of such lowbrow comedies as Ace Ventura: Pet Detective and The Nutty Professor.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/filmchat\/2007\/05\/interview-tom-shadyac-evan-almighty-2007-2.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Interview: Tom Shadyac (Evan Almighty, 2007)\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"LOS ANGELES, CA -- Tom Shadyac made his name as the director and producer of such lowbrow comedies as Ace Ventura: Pet Detective and The Nutty Professor.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/filmchat\/2007\/05\/interview-tom-shadyac-evan-almighty-2007-2.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"FilmChat\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2007-05-25T13:38:18+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2016-04-08T17:41:58+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/wp.patheos.com.s3.amazonaws.com\/blogs\/filmchat\/files\/2013\/08\/evanalmighty-shadyacmonkey-300x200.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Peter T. 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