In 2003, director Tom Shadyac staged an American comedy that has become cult: “Almighty Bruce”. Worn by Jim Carrey and Morgan Freeman, it is a reference of the genre which has met with great success. But the feature film did not have an easy exploitation, with several countries having initially prohibited its projection.
Almighty Bruce : Tom Shadyac finds Jim Carrey
In 2003, director Tom Shadyac staged the American comedy Almighty Bruce. After a first production for television in 1991, A love of Frankenstein, Tom Shadyac is not really at his first attempt. The director has indeed already produced some successful comedies, some of which were worn by Jim Carrey. The American public thus owes him the first Ace Ventura, The Nutty Professor, Liar, liaror Doctor Patch.
But Almighty Bruce is unquestionably his greatest critical and popular success. Worn by Jim Carrey, Jennifer Aniston, Steve Carrell and especially by Morgan Freeman in the character of God, the feature film receives warm feedback. On the box office side, it is a great success for Universal. Almighty Bruce earns more than 484 million dollars in revenue for a budget of 81 million.
Following this success, Universal produced a second opus in 2007, still directed by Tom Shadyac, and entitled evan almighty. A clever spin-off, without Jim Carrey, but which focuses on the character played by Steve Carrell in the first film.
The film banned in several countries
It is a risk incurred: when a work decides to show the divine nature on the screen, it may displease certain societies where religion and its representation are not joked. The cast of Almighty Bruce has thus been blocked in some countriessince Morgan Freeman embodies God in Tom Shadyac’s film. Even if he is not represented in a necessarily degrading, critical or caricatural way, God therefore takes on human form. A representation which in Christianity does not pose a problem, but which is perceived as blasphemous in other religions.
Almighty Bruce was therefore banned in some Muslim nations such as Egypt, due to the human representation of God. Madkour Thabet, director of the Egyptian Censorship Bureau, thus indicated that the film had been banned because “he undermines the Almighty by daring to embody him through an actor”. Malaysia took the same decision soon after. Bans on the screening of the film were eventually lifted after censorship boards in both countries sanctioned their maximum restriction the movie : a ban at least 18 years old.
