Steve Carell Making A Sequel To One Of His Biggest Comedies?
Steve Carell could be teaming up with another comedic legend for a sequel to one of his biggest comedies from the past. It could be biblical
Steve Carell might not be at the apex of the comedic mountaintop anymore, but he’s still among the legends when it comes to bringing the funny. His star turns on the small screen and big screen alike have been about as great as one could ever imagine. And he’s even been known to steal when the cameo is right. So hearing he’s going to be in new projects is always exciting. There’s a rumor out there now, courtesy of insider Daniel Richtman, that Carell is actually in talks to bring back one of his funnier characters from the past. He and Jim Carrey are apparently in talks to make Bruce Almighty 2.
Bruce Almighty came out in 2003 and starred Jim Carrey as the title character who unwittingly takes over for God (Morgan Freeman) and is granted all of the requisite powers. It’s a silly flick with Carey hamming it up over his newfound abilities. Steve Carell plays Evan, Bruce’s colleague at the local news station. The two are in constant competition with Carell’s character playing an angle shooter who gets his comeuppance once Bruce starts rolling downhill with his powers.
The original movie came out before Steve Carell had really broken out and even in the credits his name is spelled differently than it is now (Steven Carrell). But after his breakout turn in both The Office and The 40-Year-Old Virgin, the studio saw fit to have a spiritual successor to Bruce Almighty. It wasn’t a direct sequel because Jim Carrey wasn’t involved, but Evan Almighty hit screens in 2007 with Carell in the starring role.
This film follows the events of the original and this time the biblical story is around Steve Carell as Evan needing to build an ark a la Noah. It failed to capture the spirit of the first movie. Whereas Bruce Almighty earned $484 million at the box office on an $81 million budget, Evan Almighty didn’t even make back its $175 million in operating costs, coming short at $173 million in ticket sales worldwide. Neither film scored all that great with critics with the former sitting at 48% on Rotten Tomatoes and the latter at 23%.
Both films were funnier than the critical scores would suggest though and there’s some reason to suspect a definitive pairing of Jim Carrey and Steve Carell in a sequel could yield hilarious dividends. If the characters have aged and matured after their previous experiences, getting them up on the screen in another biblical adventure could prove pretty funny.
In the meantime, you can catch Steve Carell on two shows. There’s Netflix’s Space Force that has him commanding a crackpot group of weirdos in the quest to get that branch of the military off the ground (so to speak). And he’s also got a smaller role in Apple TV’s The Morning Show with Jennifer Aniston. So while we wait for Steve Carell to get back in the role of Evan, there are plenty of ways to catch the guy on the small screen now.
