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- The hashtag #boycottexodusmovie has been trending on Twitter as posters express there anger over the film's casting of white actors as Egyptians
- Director Ridley Scott has been bullish about the issue of casting and said it was a business decision to hire white actors
- He claimed he wouldn't get financing if her hired 'Mohammad so-and-so from such-and-such'
- The cast does includes a number of actors of color, although it is mainly in minors roles including as servants.
Hollywood’s forthcoming Moses movie - Exodus: Gods and Kings - isn’t in cinemas yet but it has still come in for renewed criticism, this time over the decision to cast white actors to play Egyptians.
Directed
by Ridley Scott, the movie stars Christian Bale as Moses, Aaron Paul as
Joshua, Sigourney Weaver as Tuya and Joel Edgerton as Rhamses.
On Twitter, the hashtag #boycottexodusmovie has been trending, with posters expressing their anger over the casting decisions.
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Hollywood’s forthcoming Moses movie -
Exodus: Gods and Kings - isn't in cinemas yet but that hasn't stopped it
coming in for renewed criticism, this time over the decision to cast
white actors as Egyptians
Scott has been bullish about the issue of casting and recently told Variety that it was a business decision to hire white actors
One person tweeted” '#BoycottExodusMovie because it is a blunt disregard of historic facts!’
Another added: 'Blacks only cast as slaves, thieves...Not the Kings and Queens? I hope @ExodusMovie bombs at the box office..'
'It
burns me that the #ExodusMovie look so good, but Hollywood has
white-washed the cast! I will not be watching,' wrote another.
Scott was bullish about the issue recently when he told Variety that casting was a business decision.
‘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’ Scott said.
‘I’m just not going to get it financed. So the question doesn’t even come up.’
On Twitter, the hashtag #boycottexodusmovie has been trending, with posters expressing their anger over the casting decisions
People have been using Twitter to call
for a boycott of the movie based on the fact that all the leads are
played by white actors
In August he had assured fans that the film would represent ‘a confluence of cultures’.
‘We
cast major actors from different ethnicities to reflect the diversity
of culture, from Iranians to Spaniards to Arabs,’ he told Yahoo.
The
cast includes a number of actors of color, including Ben Kingsley, Dar
Salim and Indira Varma, as well as others in minors roles including as
servants.
The
Hollywood Diversity Report, published earlier this year shows that only
11 per cent of films cast an ethnic minority actor in a lead role while
ethnic minority actors make up just 10 per cent of the cast in the
majority of movies.
Scott’s
film has already got into hot water with religious groups, after Bale
described his character as 'barbaric' and 'schizophrenic'.
Holy Moses! Bale’s controversial
comments weren't well received by Christian writers and bloggers who
fear the film is tampering too much with the original Biblical text
Speaking
at a press conference in Los Angeles in September, Bale said he had
undertaken significant research for the role, including also reading the
Torah, the Koran and Jonathan Kirsch’s life of Moses.
‘I
think the man was likely schizophrenic and was one of the most barbaric
individuals that I ever read about in my life,’ he said.
Bale also said he was surprised by the complexity of the Old Testament figure – and his creator.
‘He
was a very troubled, tumultuous man and mercurial. But the biggest
surprise was the nature of God. He was equally very mercurial.’
Bale’s
controversial comments weren't well received by Christian writers and
bloggers who fear the film is tampering too much with the original
Biblical text.
Influential
Christian writer, Brian Godawa, who leaked elements of the Noah script
online before the movie was finished, weighed in on Bale’s comments at
his blog.
'Yes,
Moses murdered a man, and he had a character arc that went from being
adopted and raised as a pagan Egyptian to a conversion to his troubled
and tumultuous faith.
'He
had difficulty trusting Yahweh. He didn’t want to be God’s spokesman
because he stuttered. And he even had arguments with God.
'But Schizophrenic? Barbaric? Really?'
Godawa said that he hoped Bale's comment was ‘a reflection of the actor’s own ignorant bigotry than of the actual movie.’
Chris Stone, the founder of Faith Driven Consumer, said he was surprised by Bale’s description of Moses, reports The Hollywood Reporter.
Exodus: Of Gods and Kings, out in
December 12, tells the story of Moses rising up against the Egyptian
Pharaoh Ramses and taking 600,000 slaves on a monumental journey of
escape from Egypt
'There’s
nothing in the biblical history that supports that,' he said. 'It’s an
indication that there will be a tremendous disconnect between Bale’s
interpretation and the expectations of the market.'
His
organization, which previously campaigned for Duck Dynasty star Phil
Robertson following the show's suspension, conducted a poll about
Exodus.
The
poll found that 74 percent of Americans were likely to see the film if
it was biblically accurate but that 68 percent were unlikely to see it
if it was inaccurate.
'It’s
our sincerest hope that this movie resonates with our community, so we
sent them the results of our poll,' said Stone. 'Their response was, "we
don’t need to have any further conversation."'
Writing
for multi-faith website Patheos.com, film critic Peter Chattaway said
Bale's remarks went further than simply commenting on the Bible but
rather he 'speculates about what was going on inside Moses’ head at the
time.'
Many
of the same commentators drew similar criticism at Darren Aronofsky’s
Noah, which starred Russell Crowe and was released earlier this year.
- Exodus: Of Gods and Kings, is due out on December 12.
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