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Wanda Sykes

Wanda Sykes, a stand-up comedian and Emmy-winning former writer for The Chris Rock Show, plays one of Evan's congressional aides in the film, and she says she was impressed by the sheer scope of the movie—rumored to be the most expensive comedy ever made. "Everybody seemed to get along, it was nice, and you had to leave any attitude outside because it's such a huge project," she says. "You see this huge ark, and it's pretty humbling. Obviously, we are not the stars of this movie. They spent a lot of money on this ark, so we'd better quit complaining!"

In the film, Sykes has a funny line, which she improvised, about going to church—so what about Sykes herself? Does she go? "I was raised in a church, when I was growing up. As an adult, I do most of my worshipping at home," she says.

Finally, Freeman might not have been on hand to discuss his take on God, but Tom Shadyac, who directed both Almighty films, is eager to discuss the beliefs that animate his films. "The voice you [hear] in the movie, the God voice, is very personal to me," he says. "I'm very exacting with it—how he delivers it, the way he says it. … It's very personal to me, the way God is presented in these movies."

Shadyac with Morgan Freeman

Could the warm, humorous, compassionate God depicted in his films really be the same God who sent the original Flood all those years ago? "Of course!" says Shadyac. "There are no contradictions in this movie to the original Flood story. However, [God] is saying, 'I once destroyed the world because there was so much corruption. We're here today. I no longer have to destroy the world. Look at what you're doing, to each other. I'm not doing it, you're doing it for me.'"

Someone asks what God would warn us about now, if we could speak to him. "What do I think he would warn us?" Shadyac replies. "Well, I think he would say, 'I've already warned you.' I always had a dream about Jesus, looking me dead in the eye, when I was very young, and he said, 'I never knew you.' Right into the gut and the soul. It's already out there, it's been said. I don't think he needs to say much more. We need to listen to what's been said, we need to incorporate and act on what's been shown us through the lives of others and the written word."

© Peter T. Chattaway 2007, subject to licensing agreement with Christianity Today International. Click for reprint information.

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The director of Bruce Almighty—and now its sequel, Evan Almighty—says laughter is theologically good medicine and making comedies is a high calling.

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n conjunction with the release of Evan Almighty, the Ark Almighty campaign seeks to help churches meet the needs of those in their congregations and communities.