Ridley Scott Tries To Explain Why The ‘Exodus: Gods and Kings’ Cast Is So White
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Normally, Ridley Scott tapping Christian Bale and Joel Edgerton for the leads of his next movie would be cause for excitement. But in the case of Exodus: Gods and Kings, Scott’s choices have raised some eyebrows. You see, Exodus is a film set in ancient Egypt, about ancient Egyptians, specifically Moses and Ramses.
More than a few people have pointed out the oddness of casting Caucasian people to play Africans — especially the few black actors he did cast appear to be playing lower-class and criminal elements. Now Scott has finally responded to the Exodus casting controversy. Read his explanation after the jump.
Scott addressed the Exodus casting controversy in a chat with Yahoo, and explained how “carefully” he’d cast the film.
Egypt was – as it is now – a confluence of cultures, as a result of being a crossroads geographically between Africa, the Middle East and Europe. We cast major actors from different ethnicities to reflect this diversity of culture, from Iranians to Spaniards to Arabs. There are many different theories about the ethnicity of the Egyptian people, and we had a lot of discussions about how to best represent the culture.
By making them all white? > Ridley Scott Tries to Explain Why the ‘Exodus: Gods and Kings’ Cast is So White - Photo posted in The TV and Movie Spot | Sign in and leave a comment below!
I’m sure there are “many different theories about the ethnicity of Egyptian people.” (Here are some.) I’ll bet few of the credible ones point to them looking like Christian Bale. Apparently Scott’s idea of “diversity” is casting Australian, American, and British white people.
What makes Scott’s explanation especially unsatisfying is that it comes right after he talks about how important it was to portray Moses and Ramses as “real” people. He describes Moses as someone who “has to be played definitively as a very real person,” and emphasizes that Exodus is “not a fantasy” but “a real thing.” Apparently, his concern with keeping things “real” didn’t extend to racially appropriate casting.
Of the seven cast members deemed central enough to be worth listing on Exodus’s Facebook About page, five are white. The other two, Ben Kingsley and Indira Varma, are half-white. Meanwhile, the black actors have roles like “Egyptian thief,” “Egyptian lower class civilian,” “assassin,” “Moses’ general,” and “Rhamses’ royal servant.” Those aren’t character descriptions. That’s how they’re listed on IMDb.
Or, to put it more succinctly:
The irony. Coincidence or not. Black actors cast to play slaves #BoycottExodusMovie pic.twitter.com/ImA6jpMVRG
— Hodan (@HodanLioness) July 29, 2014
Hollywood is great at coming up with excuses for not casting people of color. Filmmakers and studios argue that non-white faces don’t sell overseas, that they’re too distracting, that they’re tough for white audiences to relate to, that they’re “historically inaccurate” (for period pieces) or “unfaithful to the source material” (for adaptions of fictional properties).
So it’s disappointing, if not terribly surprising, that when a major filmmaker finally gets his hands on a project that demands non-white stars, he goes ahead casts white stars anyway. The roles of Moses and Ramses were famously played by Yul Brynner and Charlton Heston in 1956′s The Ten Commandments. It’d be nice to think we’ve progressed past that kind of whitewashed casting now, but apparently it’s just not true.
Anyway, Exodus: Gods and Kings opens December 12.
More than a few people have pointed out the oddness of casting Caucasian people to play Africans — especially the few black actors he did cast appear to be playing lower-class and criminal elements. Now Scott has finally responded to the Exodus casting controversy. Read his explanation after the jump.
Scott addressed the Exodus casting controversy in a chat with Yahoo, and explained how “carefully” he’d cast the film.
Egypt was – as it is now – a confluence of cultures, as a result of being a crossroads geographically between Africa, the Middle East and Europe. We cast major actors from different ethnicities to reflect this diversity of culture, from Iranians to Spaniards to Arabs. There are many different theories about the ethnicity of the Egyptian people, and we had a lot of discussions about how to best represent the culture.
By making them all white? > Ridley Scott Tries to Explain Why the ‘Exodus: Gods and Kings’ Cast is So White - Photo posted in The TV and Movie Spot | Sign in and leave a comment below!
I’m sure there are “many different theories about the ethnicity of Egyptian people.” (Here are some.) I’ll bet few of the credible ones point to them looking like Christian Bale. Apparently Scott’s idea of “diversity” is casting Australian, American, and British white people.
What makes Scott’s explanation especially unsatisfying is that it comes right after he talks about how important it was to portray Moses and Ramses as “real” people. He describes Moses as someone who “has to be played definitively as a very real person,” and emphasizes that Exodus is “not a fantasy” but “a real thing.” Apparently, his concern with keeping things “real” didn’t extend to racially appropriate casting.
Of the seven cast members deemed central enough to be worth listing on Exodus’s Facebook About page, five are white. The other two, Ben Kingsley and Indira Varma, are half-white. Meanwhile, the black actors have roles like “Egyptian thief,” “Egyptian lower class civilian,” “assassin,” “Moses’ general,” and “Rhamses’ royal servant.” Those aren’t character descriptions. That’s how they’re listed on IMDb.
Or, to put it more succinctly:
The irony. Coincidence or not. Black actors cast to play slaves #BoycottExodusMovie pic.twitter.com/ImA6jpMVRG
— Hodan (@HodanLioness) July 29, 2014
Hollywood is great at coming up with excuses for not casting people of color. Filmmakers and studios argue that non-white faces don’t sell overseas, that they’re too distracting, that they’re tough for white audiences to relate to, that they’re “historically inaccurate” (for period pieces) or “unfaithful to the source material” (for adaptions of fictional properties).
So it’s disappointing, if not terribly surprising, that when a major filmmaker finally gets his hands on a project that demands non-white stars, he goes ahead casts white stars anyway. The roles of Moses and Ramses were famously played by Yul Brynner and Charlton Heston in 1956′s The Ten Commandments. It’d be nice to think we’ve progressed past that kind of whitewashed casting now, but apparently it’s just not true.
Anyway, Exodus: Gods and Kings opens December 12.
Comments
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Sheesh
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Last ? on earth starring Tom Hanks
Word to Paul Mooney
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Not watchin
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? this movie
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white Jews would ? riot if Moses was black
and one thing you can't do when you're in the spotlight is ? off a jew in fear of being labeled anti semitic or blackballed.
the angle he's using tells it all. Moses can only be portrayed as real if he is played as white man. If he would be made as African that would tarnish everything they believe in.
Moses is essentially their Jesus. He brought them their customs and ideologies. they don't see a black man when they picture Moses.
whether you agree with the bible or not its very telling that they go out of their way to cast the important figures as European. I mean history will tell you what it was back then.
why is Egypt the only civilization where there is a debate of who was there and who ruled? they know why.
its so sad its laughable.
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Won't be watching.
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if yall support this yall are blind
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Ridley Scott is renound for caring more about his film sets than his cast and crew. Maybe he really didn't notice all the cast for a film set in Ancient Egypt were white, an easy mistake to make h'obviously.
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If Ramses white than I'm got dayuum white walker! His Dna results came last year and he was confirmed sub Saharan.
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inside king tuts tomb
when it comes to ? being great in Africa all of a sudden whites wanna make some "We Are The World" film and the "actors race really doesnt matter"
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? everything about this film: as a staff, as a movie studio, and as a ? crew.
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ridley scott is one of my fav directors, im gonna see this either way streamed or cinema
wish he woulda gave a better explanation y the cast is so white tho, but its probably true that he didnt wanna ? off hollywood jews, or maybe hes jewish himself iont kno. -
Perpetuating this ? , Ridley needs to Tony himself.
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There are many different theories about the ethnicity of the Egyptian people.
WOW -
inside king tuts tomb
when it comes to ? being great in Africa all of a sudden whites wanna make some "We Are The World" film and the "actors race really doesnt matter"
Damn this made me sad. As a people we really can't have anything can we? -
? this b
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King Amenehmet III (his tomb statue depicted him with dreads)
Mummy of Maihirpre who lived during the reign of Amenehmet IIThere are many different theories about the ethnicity of the Egyptian people.
WOW
so since were not sure if they were Arab African or Black African lets make them white Britians by default -
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Mummy of Maihirpre who lived during the reign of Amenehmet II
Hold up bruh, you sure that ain't a pic of lil Wayne? You really sure? -
Can't wait to reserve my seat for this.
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Why are people surprised?
Cracka's gonna CAC -
smh.
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Crackas doing us a favor. Idk if they gotta keep beating us over the head with it but they definitely dgaf about portraying us correctly, and y should they?
Stop supporting their ? 'historical' movies.
Make our own movies.
I'm not a film maker but I got half of those options covered. They ain't seeing a dime out of me for no moses, prince of Persia, none of that.
I'm mad I ain't bootlegged '300'