Universal Studios is defending the use of a seemingly bogus phone number in the smash hit Jim Carrey comedy "Bruce Almighty" -- which is causing some mighty huge headaches for various people all over the country.

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Radio Station With God's Phone Number Plays Up Prank

Normally films use the non-existent "555" phone prefix when phone numbers are displayed in movies.

But in the movie "Bruce Almighty," the phone number for God (played by Morgan Freeman) uses a "776" prefix, and if dialed, it leads to the real phone numbers for several people across the country. Since the movie opened, people such as a Florida woman and a call center for five radio stations in Colorado have received mistaken phone calls for God.

A Universal spokeswoman told Colorado's Rocky Mountain News Wednesday that the reason the phone number was used in "Bruce Almighty," was because the prefix doesn't exist in Buffalo, N.Y., where the movie is set.

Ron Nickel, senior vice president of the Radio Colorado Network, said the calls are "everything from crank calls to some very serious stuff."

He quoted one caller as saying, "God, I really need to talk to you. I need to repent because I've cheated on my husband five times, but I guess all of us people who are prostitutes eventually cheat on our husbands."

Nickel said that his board operators "couldn't answer" all of the calls. Nickel is taking the incidents in stride, and said he wants to run a radio promotion with Universal's participation. Because of the nature of his business, Nickel said he won't sue Universal because of the multiple phone calls.

He said though his employees are able to get through on a line to work, he'd be "ticked off" about the calls if his business was something like a "concrete company."

A woman in Pinellas Park, Fla., is apparently ticked off about having the same number. Dawn Jenkins said she's been getting 20 calls an hour on her cell phone since the movie came out. The St. Petersburg Times caught up with Jenkins at her job Monday, but she said she didn't want to talk until she had consulted a lawyer.

Also joining Jenkins in her disdain is a man who has the same number in Sanford, N.C. Ironically, he is a minister named Bruce.

Apart from the numerous phone calls, the Rev. Bruce MacInnes of Turner's Chapel Church is upset about "Bruce Almighty" as a whole.

"It's a movie that mocks God and makes a mockery of religion. I'm not thrilled with it at all," MacInness said.

But according to The Associated Press, MacInness has found a silver lining in the clouds because of the phone number incident, too.

"The Lord God is one that could use something that's meant for evil and turn it around for good," MacInness said. "So this may very well be the reason that that number showed up."