Since the beginning of the promotion of «Gods of Egypt», the film by Alex Proyas suffered severe criticism on the Web. The feature film was criticized for its whitewashing and lack of diversity.
gods of egypt : Alex Proyas’ belly
Seven years after leading Nicolas Cage in disaster prevention in predictionsAlex Proyas returned to the cinema in 2016 with gods of egypt. An ambitious feature film, crowned with a budget of 140 million dollars, with which the director of Dark City y Yo robot deals with Egyptian mythology.
In ancient times, gods and men lived in harmony. A peace that Seth (Gerard Butler), god of the desert wishing to reign over Egypt, destroys by killing the king and banishing Horus (Nikolaj Coster-Waldau). Exiled, the latter is freed from his prison by Bek (Brenton Thwaites), a young thief who goes to great lengths to save the woman he loves, Zaya (Courtney Eaton).
Together, Horus and Bek will embark on a dangerous quest to defeat Seth, out of control and wreaking havoc in the country. Chadwick Boseman, Élodie Yung, Rufus Sewell and Geoffrey Rush round out the film’s cast. Massacred by critics gods of egypt it was also a commercial failure, grossing only $150 million worldwide.
A blockbuster accused of white wash
About a year later Exodus: gods and kings, gods of egypt takes place in turn scold for his white wash, as soon as the feature film posters are put online. The film’s lack of diversity draws harsh criticism, as does the fact that Gerard Butler and Nikolaj Coster-Waldau play Egyptian gods. In November 2015, Alex Proyas apologized in a press release published by Forbes :
The casting process has many variables and limitations. But it is clear that our choice of actors could have been more varied. I sincerely apologize to anyone who has been hurt by our decisions.
Production company Lionsgate says:
We acknowledge our responsibility that distributions reflect the diversity and culture of the time periods described. We failed in this case and apologize. Lionsgate is committed to making films that reflect the diversity of our audience. We have, we do and we will do everything possible to respect that.
A controversy understood by Chadwick Boseman
asked by QG, Chadwick Boseman assures that he perfectly understands the controversy. The interpreter of Thoth explains:
When I received the script, I thought this review was going to appear, really. And I’m glad that’s the case because I actually agree. That’s why I wanted to do it, to see a person of African origin playing Thoth, the father of mathematics, of astronomy, the god of wisdom. Unfortunately, we don’t make $140 million movies with black and tan people.
As for Alex Proyas, he goes back on his apologies in a message posted on Facebook and quoted by Orange. In addition to stating that “there is a huge debate about the skin color of the ancient Egyptians” and that “no one is sure at the moment,” he justifies his casting choices as follows:
My film does not pretend to be historical. It is inspired by myths, it is a fantastic film, an imaginary work. So, under these conditions, I choose my actors according to the roles. This of course implies that people may not agree with my choices. It is common for an actor to play a character of a different origin than their own. Sean Connery played a Russian despite being Scottish. Omar Sharif also when he was Egyptian.
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