New movie, same old situation.
Character posters have been released for the upcoming film Gods of Egypt, directed by Alex Proyas -- and people are not happy to see that Gerard Butler and Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, two definite white dudes, star in the film as Egyptian gods Set and Horus.
The film's cast seems to be mostly white, save for Chadwick Boseman, who plays Thoth, and Elodie Yung, who plays Hathor.
[seealso slug="3-movies-women-directors"]
Here's the #exclusive debut of the new character poster for @GodsofEgypt: https://t.co/SmxoRnG0Qf #GodsOfEgypt pic.twitter.com/fLB3higFOb— IMDb (@IMDb) November 12, 2015
It wasn't long before critics began tweeting about the film, shocked at the amount of white actors playing ancient Egyptians.
This looks terrible. I hope it flops big time. #GodsOfEgypt pic.twitter.com/2ecuOw6nGC— Suleiman (@Payitforward87) November 12, 2015
And look at these extras. You can blue screen Egypt in the background but can't cast real Egyptians??? #GodsOfEgypt pic.twitter.com/RR8mTuK4wP— Matthew A. Cherry (@MatthewACherry) November 12, 2015
Many have also compared the upcoming movie to last year's flop Exodus: Gods and Kings, a heavily whitewashed version of the story of Moses.
What does #Exodus & #GodsOfEgypt have in common? Another whitewashed movie about heroic white people in AFRICA that I won't be watching.— Thelonious Legend (@TheLegendBooks) November 13, 2015
STOP MAKING MOVIES ABOUT EGYPT AND ONLY CASTING WHITE PEOPLE. ENOUGH IS ENOUGH. #GodsofEgypt pic.twitter.com/ZZe8LMrGte— DenizcanS. (@MrFilmkritik) November 12, 2015
Even actress Bette Midler called out the film for its casting.
Movie, #GodsOfEgypt in which everyone is white? Egyptians, in history and today, have NEVER been white. BRING BACK GEOGRAPHY!! It's Africa!— Bette Midler (@BetteMidler) November 12, 2015
Gods of Egypt is slated for release on April 8, 2016.