Bruce Almighty, the hit comedy starring Jim Carrey, may have gotten a sequel in the shape of Evan almighty, but it wasn't the follow-up the writers originally intended to make. Now, they've revealed their plans for 'Brucifer', which would've seen the titular TV reporter acquire Satan's powers instead of God's.
In a new interview with SyFy Wire, Steve Koren and Mark O’Keefe – who penned Bruce Almighty with Steve Oedekerk – recalled bumping into producer Michael Bostick at the 2003 film's premiere and pitching him the idea of Brucifer. But, despite the backing of Carrey and the actor's manager, Bostick didn't go for it.
"It never quite worked out," Koren said. "It would have been another giant movie and I don't think they wanted to do it. It just didn't work out for some reason, but a lot of people loved it, including Jim."
According to Koren, the movie would have seen Carrey's Bruce make a literal deal with the devil to bring his late partner Grace, who was played by Jennifer Aniston the first time around, back to life.
"You tend to lose your faith when the world seems unfair, and that's what got him. It came from a serious place, but we were gonna write it in a very friendly way. We certainly didn't want to depress people. So I think that scared [the studio] a little bit, but to Jim's credit, he totally understood that we were going to make a big comedy and thought everybody would connect with it."
Carrey was so on board that he was "laughing his ass off" when the trio approached him about the idea – and he even offered up some notes of his own, too. "We had her come back as Jennifer Aniston. He said, 'No, she has to look like a zombie first and then we’ll make her beautiful again.' We thought that was brilliant," Koren said.
Rather than keep the focus on Bruce, Universal Pictures centered a sequel on Steve Carell's rival news anchor Evan Baxter. Also directed by Tom Shadyac, Evan Almighty sees the character, who's now working as a congressman, transform into a Noah-type figure and build an ark at the behest of Morgan Freeman's all-powerful creator. Wanda Sykes, John Goodman, and Gilmore Girls' Lauren Graham also star.
While we'll never get to see Brucifer, check out our guide to the most exciting upcoming movies definitely coming our way throughout the rest of 2022 and beyond.
