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If it is a trend, it's the oldest trend in the world: Tell a good story, tell a human story, tell an entertaining story, and people will come see it. And if it happens to be about the subject of faith, God and man and relationship, all the better. I don't think Hollywood's ever been afraid of faith-based movies. I think they're afraid of bad movies.

Shadyac and a couple of really big stars on the set

But between Bruce's success and The Passion's success, Hollywood suddenly realized that Christians buy a lot of tickets at the box office.

Shadyac: I agree, but I think that's a bass-ackwards embracing by show business. You don't get audiences by going, "Oh gee, there's a Christian audience, let's make Christian movies." Because then you get bad movies.

But I do agree completely that Hollywood didn't know how powerful the Christian audience was. When they showed up for The Passion, it spun heads, because Hollywood is colorblind except for one color, and it's green. They saw green. They've never seen anything like it—Christian organizations and churches buying out entire screenings. They saw numbers they couldn't believe for a movie that probably should have opened to a much softer number. It just really woke people up.

Hearing you say these things, it's kind of ironic, then, that Evan Almighty is being aggressively marketed to Christians and churches, including the Ark Almighty campaign on the side. Your movie has now become a part of that Christian marketing machine. Are you OK with that?

Shadyac: I'm OK with that. I mean, we're all here to spread good news. I believe strongly in this creative force we call God, and I love to spread the word. As long as that's done honestly, I'm good with it. When we started talking about making this movie, I had kept hearing that the Christian community wanted more "biblical, wholesome entertainment." And we thought we had something that they would embrace.

But are you afraid of being pigeonholed? Of people saying, "Oh, that Shadyac guy, he's that Christian director who makes movies for Christians."

Shadyac: Again, I don't like the label because of what the word Christian has become today, unfortunately—many people think it means "judgmental" and that it carries certain political ideas. I'm a Jesus freak. I respond to Jesus, the messages of the Sermon on the Mount, to this guy who talked about loving your neighbor and loving your enemy. I know what's moving me, and I know what I want to be true to in my work. And if people pigeonhole me for that, I don't really care.

What do you want people to walk away from Evan Almighty thinking about?

Shadyac: Hopefully they'll walk away entertained. But also, I think we all have this "idolatry of magnitude," thinking that if we don't do something huge for the world that we haven't done anything. We forget the story of the widow's mite. We have this idea we have to do something huge, when we don't take seriously enough the idea that it's just the way you say hello, the way you treat somebody, the way you conduct yourself at work or in your car, or how you treat the earth. I hope this idea sparks just a little different way of thinking of how we can all change the world.

For more on how you can help change the world, check out the film's "kindness campaign" at www.ArkAlmighty.com. Meanwhile, Shadyac is committed to serving others through a bottled water ministry, HtoO (Hope to Others), and to conservation through efforts like this one.

Evan Almighty photos © Ralph Nelson / Universal Pictures.

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