Ellen DeGeneres‘ movie career hasn’t stopped yet as Christians and fanatics are all going to be up in arms as the openly gay star has signed on for the title role in the Jerry Weintraub and Warner Bros. remake of the 1977 George Burns starrer Oh, God!.
The decision to turn the role from a male lead to a female lead was an attempt at originality as Weintraub told Variety he could never figure out how to remake a film in a way that would flatter the original. He was recently approached by DeGeneres, however, and was impressed by her take. Then he got the blessing of the original’s director, Carl Reiner, and writer Larry Gelbart.
“Ellen is a strong comedienne and she has always done material about God and questions about God,” said Weintraub. “She will help us with the writing, and using her will allow us to do a proper 2005 view of ‘Oh God!’ that is hip and modern.”
