When assembling the behind-the-scenes team, Shadyac, Bostick and Spyglass Entertainment producers Roger Birnbaum and Gary Barber and Original Film’s Neal H. Moritz turned to the talented group of creative individuals with whom they collaborated on previous projects, including Bruce Almighty.

The artisans included costume designer Judy Ruskin Howell and Academy Award®-winning special-effects makeup designer David Leroy Anderson (Cinderella Man) to the fold. It was Anderson who developed and interpreted the evolution of Evan Baxter into a modern-day Noah.

The designer created approximately seven different looks for Carell’s transformation—starting with the handsome, well-groomed professional ready to take on Capitol Hill and finishing with a longhaired, bearded man of the animals.

Anderson and his team toiled daily, taking an average of three hours to morph Carell into the different phases of Evan Baxter/”The Weirdo With a Beard-o.” The veteran special-effects makeup designer kept his sense of humor throughout arduous months of filming, giving each of Evan’s new looks such memorable names as “Mountain Man,” “Metrosexual” and “Unabomber,” among others.

The process of creating all of Evan’s beards was a painstaking one that had a three-person team placing individual hairs onto Carell’s face. Custom-made wigs completed the remarkable transformation that rendered the actor unrecognizable to some.

Says Shadyac, “Dave is an amazing artist. There was not a moment in the movie that I looked at Steve and said, ‘Oh, this isn’t real.’ It all looked absolutely real.”

Carell recalls of his time in the hair and makeup chair: “It always looked like something that was actually growing out of my face.” He slyly adds, “So, when I lose a little more hair in real life, I will be calling Dave to come over to my house every morning and apply a toupee for four hours, because I know it’ll look real.”

Completing Evan’s miraculous makeover, Carell donned several “ancient” robes to become the world’s most famous seafarer. As with any historical element for the comedy, research played an integral part in helping the team to craft together the iconic look of biblical character Noah.

Veteran costume designer Ruskin Howell designed the rough-hewn silk-burlap robes to look as authentic as possible, completing them with several functional touches to stand up to the punishments of the daily wear and tear of filming. Ruskin Howell conferred with textile experts, read up on her ancient history and aged fibers to achieve the proper patina and look for Carell’s multiple robes.

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Production Information
When Universal Pictures’ comedy Bruce Almighty arrived at the summer box office on Memorial Day weekend in 2003, it blew audiences and box-office records away. Director/Producer TOM SHADYAC had crafted yet another film that spoke to moviegoers’ desires to suspend disbelief and spend time following extraordinarily funny people who were put in outlandish circumstances.