How many times has Morgan Freeman played God in movies?
Introduction
As an actor, it can be hard to diversify your portfolio once you become typecast for a certain role.
Some professionals tend to find themselves seen as ‘the guy/girl from X,’ and it can become quite annoying.
When an actor or actress plays a role well, it is easy for another director to want to hire them to reprise that same role.
In the case of Morgan Freeman, playing various roles has been his story.
Most pros on the green screen would love to have the acting versatility that Freeman has shown throughout his illustrious career.
Having made his name playing people like Alex Cross and becoming a legend on the screen for his numerous roles, Freeman can point to an incredible cost of characters. However, one role he has reprised more than once is that of God himself.
Be it his commanding yet soothing voice or his ability to play both serious and funny roles with equal control, Freeman has a long history of playing powerful characters and taking on the role of God, though.
That is quite the challenge.
Having played God on more than one occasion, though, you might wonder how many times Morgan Freeman played God.
Let’s look at the details.
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How many times has Morgan Freeman played God?
At the time of writing, Morgan Freeman has played God twice. The two starring roles of his time as the deity himself came in the two movies Bruce Almighty and Evan Almighty. The first film, released in 2003, was a huge success commercially.
While it did not get great reviews from critics, it did well enough to receive a sequel.
On top of that, Freeman received major praise for his work as God in the films.
The film revolves around Bruce Nolan, a guy with pretty much nothing going his way in his life.
He’s a TV reporter who has a go at God for not doing his job properly, so God appears and offers him the chance to be God for a week.
Naturally, Nolan sounds to find out that being in charge is much harder than one would assume and that even omnipotence cannot allow you to do everything right.
Nolan manages to use the power of Godship to get himself a lot of personal game, but he also starts to use his powers to get himself amazing exclusive news stories that propel his career to a whole new level.
He also makes a fool of his rival colleague, Evan Baxter, who makes a fool of him live and on-air to the point where he loses his job in the first place.
It’s a decent enough film, but the real star of the show has to be Freeman.
What about Evan Almighty?
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Freeman returns as God in the sequel, Evan Almighty.
The film follows Evan from the first film, played by Steve Carrell.
In this film, he takes on the role of a modern recreation of Noah’s Ark, and he has to remake the Ark event to take place even against his demand.
Again, the film itself is not exceptional – but Freeman does a fine job of playing a more demanding, forceful take on God in this film.
It did receive generally upbeat reviews, though, and some even prefer it to the original.
One thing that does not change from the first movie to the second, though, is Freemans’ ability to use his limited screen time to make the most of his powers.
It’s a great example of how versatile an actor Freeman is, being able to play God from two angles without missing a beat.
Freeman also has a history of taking part in God-based media content
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One very interesting thing to note is that Morgan Freeman has discussed God on quite a few occasions via documentaries.
His The Story of God with Morgan Freeman documentary series, part of National Geographic’s wonderful documentary offerings, is one of the most popular shows he has ever done.
Do you think, though, that the fact that Morgan Freeman has played God contributed to him being chosen to take part in this show?
In the show, Freeman takes his time to go and visit numerous different religions and religiously minded cultures.
He learns about their belief in God or a God, and he also speaks about the potential of a higher power that is not discussed within a religion.
The fact that he has played God on so many occasions in the past probably made him the perfect choice to take on the role of discussing God.
The show was highly successful, running from January 2017 until March 2019.
Across 18 different episodes, Freeman explored the topic of God across numerous religions and divided in a way that was rarely done before.
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Has any other actor or actress played God more than once?
Liam Neeson – @Getty
Quite a few.
One such example would be Liam Neeson.
Neeson played God in the form of Zeus when he was in the Titan movie series.
George Burns has also managed to take on the mantle of God more than once, having played God in the Oh, God movie series.
A strange one to add to the list is singing sensation Alanis Morissette, who has played God in both Dogma and the Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back post-credits scene.
So, while Morgan Freeman has played God on more than one occasion, he is not the only big-name actor or actress to find his way into the shoes of a genuine deity on multiple occasions.
Many actors have had the role of playing God at least once, with the likes of Charlton Heston and Ralph Richardson doing so.
Few people, though, find themselves as the leader of all things more than once.
On that role, Mr. Freeman probably has the edge on most – not many people have found themselves being cast in the role of God on more than one occasion.
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Lee Parry is a writer and blogger originally from Manchester, UK, and he has a B.A. in Modern Languages from Manchester Metropolitan University. Parry occasionally teaches English and spends most of his free time reading.