'Gods of Egypt' movie poster sparks backlash, film accused of whitewashing history

Nov 13, 2015

The Gods of Egypt movie poster has been released, and with it came massive waves of backlash as fans and celebrities alike reacted to another apparent whitewashing of history in film.

It’s instantly been compared to the now infamous Exodus: Gods and Kings movie by Ridley Scott.

The Gods of Egypt film stars Gerard Butler and Nikolaj Coster-Waldau as two Egyptian gods at war, and the cast seems to be mostly white. Even the film’s casting of Chadwick Boseman as the god Thoth, god of wisdom, has drawn criticism, with many pointing out that it fills the “magical negro” trope of writing rather than actually diversifying.

“If you need sunscreen while filming for #GodsOfEgypt it’s probably not a historically accurate casting,” said Vimto Mami.

“In all seriousness, no wonder POC complain about diversity in Hollywood when movies like #GodsOfEgypt get made. Egypt isn’t in Europe, guys,” said AKA Dan Entwistle.

The controversy comes after the huge backlash that followed director Ridley Scott when he filmed the story of Moses with a cast consisting almost entirely of white people. At the time, Scott defended his casting decisions by saying that no one would see a movie with lesser known names.

“I can’t mount a film of this budget, where I have to rely on tax rebates in Spain, and say that my lead actor is Mohammad so-and-so from such-and-such,”he said. “I’m just not going to get it financed. So the question doesn’t even come up.”