'Evan Almighty' opens Friday

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LOS ANGELES, June 18 (UPI) -- Actor Steve Carell is playing a modern age Noah in "Evan Almighty," which director Tom Shadyac called a "contemporized" Noah's Ark story.

In "Evan Almighty" Carell plays Evan Baxter, the same character as he did in the 2003 film "Bruce Almighty," starring Jim Carrey.

But Baxter is now a congressman who moves his wife, played by Lauren Graham, and three kids to a recently developed valley. God, played by Morgan Freeman, then comes and asks him to build the ark for an impending flood, the New York post reported Monday.

The film's creators are not calling it a sequel, nor a religious comedy.

Shadyac prefers that the film be referred to as a "Bible parable" or "contemporized Noah's Ark story."

"There are more stories to be told than just Bruce's," he said. "In the Bible, there were many stories where God visits someone."

"People are getting a lot for their money," added the director. "We are a biblical epic. We have an ark. Thousands of animals. A flood! If you look at the screen, I could tell you specifically where the money went."

The film will release in theaters nationwide Friday.