'God of Egypt' trailer, cast news & release date: Gerard Butler's latest movie with predominant white cast criticized

By Staff Reporter | Nov 18, 2015 | 06:00 AM EST

The trailer of Summit and Lionsgate's upcoming film "Gods of Egypt" slated to be released early in 2016 has gotten a lot of raves. The posters, however, were not as successful with a lot of people picking apart on its choice of characters deemed, yet again, as another case of whitewashing in a historical film.

The cast of the movie was predominantly white with the two main characters of Egyptian Gods were portrayed by a couple of more popular white actors, Gerard Butler and Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, The Grio reported.

The same backlash of disapproval from movie fans and critics was received by another historical-themed movie in Ridley Scott's "Exodus: Gods and Kings." The director tried to justify his decision to cast white actors by saying that moviegoers are into films with more popular actors in it.

Meanwhile, the cast for the upcoming film include Brenton Thwaites (also from the movie "Blue Lagoon: The Awakening" and Oculus) will play the role of Bek, Nikolaj Coster-Waldau (known for his role in the "Game of Thrones") will be Horus and Gerald Butler ("Olympus Has Fallen" and "300") will play the role of the antagonistic god Set.

They will be joined by Rufus Sewell (from "Hercules"), Elodie Young ("The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo"), Courtney Eaton (known for Mad Max: Fury Road), Abbey Lee (also from Mad Max: Fury Road) and Geoffrey Rush ("The King's Speech").

"In this spectacular action-adventure inspired by the classic mythology of Egypt, the survival of mankind hangs in the balance as an unexpected mortal hero Bek undertakes a thrilling journey to save the world and rescue his true love. In order to succeed, he must enlist the help of the powerful god Horus in an unlikely alliance against Set (Gerard Butler), the merciless god of darkness, who has usurped Egypt's throne, plunging the once peaceful and prosperous empire into chaos and conflict... both god and mortal must pass tests of courage and sacrifice if they hope to prevail in the epic final confrontation," according to the official synopsis of the film, Forbes wrote.

The "Gods of Egypt" will hit the theaters on February 26, 2016, according to ComingSoon.net. The film will be under the direction of Alex Proyas, who is also responsible for films like "I, Robot" and "Dark City." The screenplay of the movie is courtesy of Matt Sazama and Burk Sharpless, the tandem who is also behind the films "Dracula Untold" and "The Last Witch Hunter."

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