Gods of Egypt is an upcoming American fantasy film featuring ancient Egyptian deities. The film is directed by Alex Proyas and features an ensemble cast starring Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, Brenton Thwaites, Chadwick Boseman, Elodie Yung, Courtney Eaton, Rufus Sewell, Gerard Butler, and Geoffrey Rush. Butler plays the god of darkness Set who takes over the Egyptian empire, and Thwaites plays the mortal hero Bek who partners with the god Horus, played by Coster-Waldau, to save the world and rescue his love.
Filming took place in Australia under the studio Summit Entertainment. While the film's production budget was $140 million, the parent company Lionsgate's financial exposure was less than $10 million due to tax incentives and pre-sales. When Lionsgate began promoting the film in November 2015, it received backlash for its predominantly white cast playing Egyptian characters. In response, Lionsgate and director Alex Proyas apologized for the lack of casting diversity.
Lionsgate plans to release Gods of Egypt in theaters in the United States on February 26, 2016 and in the United Kingdom on April 8, 2016. The film will be released in 2D, RealD 3D, and IMAX 3D.
Contents
Synopsis
The Egyptian god of darkness Set takes over the throne of the Egyptian empire. A mortal hero, Bek, allies with the Egyptian god Horus in a mission to save the world and to rescue his love.[1]Cast
- Nikolaj Coster-Waldau as Horus[2]
- Brenton Thwaites as Bek[2]
- Gerard Butler as Set[2]
- Chadwick Boseman as Thoth[2]
- Elodie Yung as Hathor[2]
- Courtney Eaton as Zaya[2]
- Rufus Sewell as Urshu[2]
- Geoffrey Rush as Ra[2]
- Bryan Brown as Osiris[2]
Production
...the world of Gods of Egypt never really existed. It is
inspired by Egyptian mythology, but it makes no attempt at historical
accuracy because that would be pointless — none of the events in the
movie ever really happened. It is about as reality-based as Star Wars
— which is not real at all ...Maybe one day if I get to make further
chapters I will reveal the context of the when and where of the story.
But one thing is for sure — it is not set in Ancient Egypt at all.
Director Alex Proyas, December 2015[3]
Proyas filmed Gods of Egypt in Australia. A crew of 200 began pre-production in Sydney in New South Wales, and producers considered filming in Melbourne in Victoria to take advantage of the state's tax incentive. Docklands Studios Melbourne was too booked to accommodate Gods of Egypt, and producers were instead offered an airport facility for production.[9] The Australian states New South Wales and Victoria competed to be the location of the film's production, and Summit selected NSW in February 2014. The state's deputy premier Andrew Stoner estimated that the production would add 400 jobs to the state and contribute $75 million to its economy.[10][nb 1]
Filming began on March 19, 2014 at Fox Studios Australia in Sydney.[11] The production budget was $140 million. Jon Feltheimer, the CEO of Summit's parent company Lionsgate, said Lionsgate's financial exposure was under $10 million due to tax incentives of filming in Australia as well as foreign pre-sales.[12]
In the film, the gods in humanoid form are 9 feet (2.7 m) tall and in "battle beast" form are over 12 feet (3.7 m) tall. Proyas used forced perspective and motion control photography to portray the difference in height between the actors portraying the gods and the humans. Proyas called the logistical challenge a "reverse Hobbit", referring to The Lord of the Rings films in which Hobbits are depicted as shorter than humans.[3]
Composer Marco Beltrami, who scored Proyas's previous films Knowing (2009) and I, Robot (2004), returned to score Gods of Egypt.[3]
Racial and ethnic casting
For more details on this topic, see List of films featuring whitewashed roles.
White actors make up most of the principal cast of Gods of Egypt. When Lionsgate began marketing the film, the Associated Press
said the distributor received backlash for "ethnically inaccurate
casting". Lionsgate and director Alex Proyas both issued apologies. The
AP said, "While some praised the preemptive mea culpa... others were
more skeptical, concluding that it's simply meant to shut down any
further backlash."[13]The casting practice of white actors as Egyptian characters was first reported after filming started in March 2014, when Daily Life's Ruby Hamad highlighted the practice as "Hollywood whitewashing".[14] Lionsgate released a set of character posters in November 2015, and The Guardian reported that the casting received a backlash on Twitter over the predominantly white cast. Some suggested that the casting of black actor Chadwick Boseman, who plays the god Thoth, played into the Magical Negro stereotype. The previous year, the biblical epic Exodus: Gods and Kings by director Ridley Scott received similar backlash for having a white cast.[15][nb 2] The Washington Post's Soraya Nadia McDonald also disparaged the casting practice for Gods of Egypt and said Lionsgate released the posters at an unfortunate time. She said with the release of Aziz Ansari's TV series Master of None in the previous week, "Whitewashed casting and the offensiveness of brownface has pretty much dominated the pop culture conversation this week. Promotion for the movie is beginning just as we're wrapping a banner year for discussions of diversity and gender pay equity in the film industry."[16]
The implication remains that white actors, even generic white actors
with zero box office draw, are preferable in terms of domestic and
overseas box office than culturally-specific (minority) actors who
actually look like the people they are supposed to be playing.
In response to criticisms of its casting practice, director Alex Proyas and Lionsgate issued apologies in late November 2015 for not considering diversity; Lionsgate said it would strive to do better. Mendelson of Forbes said the apologies were "a somewhat different response" than defenses made by Ridley Scott for Exodus and Joe Wright for Pan (2015).[20] Ava DuVernay, who directed Selma (2014), said, "This kind of apology never happens - for something that happens all the time. An unusual occurrence worth noting."[21] The Guardian's Ben Child said, "The apologies are remarkable, especially given that Gods of Egypt does not debut in cinemas until 26 February and could now suffer at the box office."[22] Michael Ordoña of San Francisco Chronicle said of the apologies, "That's little comfort to the nonwhite actors denied opportunities or the Egyptians who will see a pale shadow of their ancestral traditions."[23] The Casting Society of America applauded the statements from Lionsgate and Proyas. Professor Todd Boyd, chair for the Study of Race and Popular Culture at the University of Southern California, said, "The apology is an attempt to have it both ways. They want the cast that they selected and they don't want people to hold it against them that it's a white cast."[13]
Chadwick Boseman, who plays the god Thoth, commented on the whitewashing, said he expected the backlash to happen when he saw the script. He said, "I'm thankful that it did, because actually, I agree with it. That's why I wanted to do it, so you would see someone of African descent playing Thoth, the father of mathematics, astronomy, the god of wisdom."[24]
In the month leading up to the release, director Alex Proyas said his film was fantasy and not intended to be history. He cited "creative license and artistic freedom of expression" to cast the actors he found to fit the roles. He said "white-washing" was a justified concern but for his fantasy film, "To exclude any one race in service of a hypothetical theory of historical accuracy... would have been biased." Proyas said that films "need more people of color and a greater cultural diversity" but that Gods of Egypt "is not the best one to soap-box issues of diversity with". He argued that the lack of English-speaking Egyptian actors, production practicalities, the studio's requirement for box office draws, and Australia having guidelines limiting "imported" actors were all factors in casting for the film. He concluded, "I attempted to show racial diversity, black, white, Asian, as far as I was allowed, as far as I could, given the limitations I was given. It is obviously clear that for things to change, for casting in movies to become more diverse many forces must align. Not just the creative. To those who are offended by the decisions which were made I have already apologised. I respect their opinion, but I hope the context of the decisions is a little clearer based on my statements here."[5]
Release
Marketing
Lionsgate released a set of character posters in November 2015, for which it received backlash due to white actors playing Egyptian characters.[15] Later in the month, it released a theatrical trailer.[17] For Super Bowl 50 on February 7, 2016, Lionsgate will air a 60-second spot for Gods of Egypt during the pre-game show.[25]Theatrical run
Lionsgate plans to release Gods of Egypt in theaters in the United States on February 26, 2016.[26][nb 3] It plans to release the film in the United Kingdom on April 8, 2016.[29] The film will be released in 2D, RealD 3D,[30] and IMAX 3D.[31] The Christian Science Monitor's Molly Driscoll said the film's US release was during "a traditionally quiet time at the box office", though it would compete with the films Pride and Prejudice and Zombies and Deadpool, both being released a couple weeks earlier.[32]Le Vision Pictures acquired rights from Lionsgate in November 2015 to distribute Gods of Egypt in China.[33]
Jaguar Films will release the film in the Middle East under the title Kings of Egypt. It will be released in the United Arab Emirates on February 25, 2016.[34]
Box office forecast
BoxOffice forecast at the start of January 2016 that Gods of Egypt would gross $14.5 million on its opening weekend in the United States and Canada and that it would gross $34 million total on its theatrical run. The magazine said the film had "a strong ensemble cast" and that its director has "had a noteworthy following". BoxOffice also said the premise could attract moviegoers who saw Clash of the Titans, Wrath of the Titans, and the Percy Jackson films. Admissions to 3D screenings would help boost Gods of Egypt's gross. The magazine said factors negatively impacting the film's gross were a "lackluster reaction" to its marketing and the backlash to its predominantly white cast causing negative buzz. It anticipated that the film's release would be front-loaded (focused on profiting mainly from opening weekend) due to the poor buzz, its categorization as a fantasy film, and with London Has Fallen opening the following weekend.[35]From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
