When Burt Reynolds played God in a 2002 TV episode: “It was a wonderful, wonderful part”
Playing God, or some iteration of the supreme being, is never going to be an easy task for an actor. God is, after all, one of the greatest mysteries of the human experience, a concept that some dedicate their entire lives to, while others turn their heads away.
It’s therefore down to an actor to interpret a God-like character themselves, which has resulted in a wide array of portrayals throughout cinema history, ranging from Rex Ingram in 1936’s The Green Pastures, one of few movies from the Old Hollywood era to feature an all-Black cast, to Steve Buscemi in Miracle Workers, a stranger, comedic vision of God who is desperate to end the world. Any possible vision of God you can imagine has probably been conjured up by a filmmaker at some point since the medium began.
In 2002, Burt Reynolds was tasked with interpreting a character who may or may not be God when he appeared in the beloved sci-fi series The X-Files. Playing a character called Mr Burt in the episode ‘Improbable’, the actor came to realise that his role was possibly an embodiment of God, and he was rather excited to take on the challenge.
“As I read it, it was a wonderful, wonderful part about a man just so full of joy for life that it’s a little unclear about whether he’s the devil or the other guy,” he once said via The Irish Examiner, “We have a pretty good idea what JC looks like, but the big guy, or the big girl, we’re not sure of.”
That’s a good point. While depictions of Jesus have long shown a man with long brown hair and a beard, always clad in sandals and a white robe, God is much more open to interpretation. Of course, the concept of ‘God’ differs across religions, but the widely accepted vision of God has always been masculine. But what if God is a woman? Various female actors have played the role of God before, like Whoopi Goldberg in both It’s a Very Merry Muppet Christmas Movie and A Little Bit of Heaven, as well as Octavia Spencer in The Shack.
In the hands of an array of directors, God has taken the form of a slacker, a lion, a disembodied figure, a human (both male and female, black and white), and in the show Joan of Arcadia, everything from a substitute teacher to a goth kid.
One of the most exciting elements of playing The X-Files character for Reynolds was figuring out what kind of voice he would have. “I think his voice is a little bit like Ossie Davis or James Earl Jones, but I’m not sure,” he considered, “I never thought I had the voice to play anyone like that”.
Clearly, Reynolds was envisioning a strong voice, one that encompassed a proper sense of all-knowingness and benevolence. The actor might not have had the faith in himself to perform with such vigour in his voice, but clearly, his approach paid off.
The episode was acclaimed, and Robert Patrick, who played John Doggett, was particularly happy to be appearing alongside an icon like Reynolds, whom he’d admired since he was young.
