A 2016 fantasy movie faced a mᴀssive backlash over its production, prompting both the studio and director to apologize. By 2016, director Alex Proyas had impressed critics with films like The Crow, Dark City, and I, Robot. After a disappointing disaster movie in Knowing, he needed a strong comeback.

Alex Proyas’ next project was a fantasy movie with huge potential, but it ultimately became a critical and commercial flop due to both behind-the-scenes and story problems. The behind-the-scenes controversy was so bad that it forced both Lionsgate and Proyas to offer apologies before the film ever came out in theaters.

Lionsgate Was Forced To Apologize Over Gods Of Egypt’s Lack Of Diverse Casting

When Gods of Egypt came out, critics and fans were not talking about the movie’s story. Most people looked at the Gods of Egypt casting controversy. The discussion centered on how the movie, about gods in Egypt, had an almost predominantly white cast. There were a few Black stars, like Chadwick Boseman, but too many were white.

Gerard Butler (Scottish) was in the lead role as Set. Nikolaj Coster-Waldau (Danish) played Horus, and Brenton Thwaites (Australian) took on the role of Bek. All three men were white and from European countries, all playing characters with Ancient Egyptian roots. This did not go over well with the audience.

Alex Proyas and Lionsgate both released statements, which Forbes shared, apologizing for the Gods of Egypt casting. Proyas explained that casting a big-budget movie is complicated, but said, “it is clear that our casting choices should have been more diverse.” Lionsgate Entertainment followed up:

“We recognize that it is our responsibility to help ensure that casting decisions reflect the diversity and culture of the time periods portrayed. In this instance we failed to live up to our own standards of sensitivity and diversity, for which we sincerely apologize.”

This does differ from past controversies. Ridley Scott said that he couldn’t get funding for a movie like Exodus without casting big-name stars, which forces a compromise, or the film won’t get made. Joe Wright claimed he had an otherwise diverse cast when explaining Rooney Mara playing Tiger Lili in Pan.

Gods Of Egypt’s Failure Went Way Beyond Its Casting Controversy

While the casting hurt the critical and commercial success of Gods of Egypt, it wasn’t the only reason the movie failed. According to The Hollywood Reporter, the film lost almost $90 million for Lionsgate, and it has a 15% Rotten Tomatoes score. It isn’t just critics, as the audience score is also a very low 37%.

In the end, the storyline hurt the film, barely better than the disappointing Wrath of the тιтans, but a hugely disappointing entry into the sword-and-sandals genre. It earned five Razzie nominations, including Worst Picture, Worst Director, Worst Actor, and Worst Screenplay. Alex Proyas went on to blame critics for poor reviews hurting the film’s success.

Gods of Egypt was pretty accurate when it comes to the gods themselves, but it wasn’t enough to make up for a story that was seemingly meant to kickstart a franchise. With its failure, nothing came from the ending, and the film died a terrible death. At least the studio and director did apologize for the whitewashing, albeit to little success.

Source: Forbes, The Hollywood Reporter