Nope, can’t watch a movie called “Gods of Egypt” that stars a bunch of white people. Hollywood has no problem showing people of color be slaves, downtrodden, in gangs, terrorists and what not but when they have a chance to show them as Gods they decided to cast some white people instead yeah no.
That's one way to look at it - but these kind of castings are kind of old news.
Of the Greek Mythology films mentioned here, how many have Greek actors in them ? Is that because Hollywood refuses to cast Greeks as gods or heroes ( even in stories about Greek Gods) ?
Hollywood has made a bunch of historical and biblical epics, not featuring any jewish actors in key jewish roles. Is that because Hollywood refuses to cast jewish actors in Jewish roles ? When was the last time you saw Jesus played by a jew ? John Legend was a great Jesus, btw, in Jesus Christ Superstar.
Hollywood probably makes casting decisions at least partly on which actors will result in a bigger box office return. I suggest that might have been a bigger factor in their casting of this film than a conscious bias against casting people of color as Gods. Honestly, I doubt the producers ever considered it as an opportunity to cast people of colour, probably never entered their minds - probably the same kind of thinking that got Laurence Olivier cast as Zeus back in 1981.
Also possibly why Idris Elba plays an Asgardian god God the Thor films, given that the Asgardians were based on North mythology it is highly unlikely that any versions of Heimdall were not caucasians - IMO Elba makes a great viking god.
Gods of Egypt also features Chadwick Boseman and Elodie Yung, both as gods.
There are plenty of reasons not to see this film - if the casting offends you, well that's your opinion and I can respect that, but it always surprises me how much the casting of a completely fantastic ( as in fantasy) film got people upset about it - rather than it not being a very good film. Interestingly my wife, who is a person of colour, actually enjoys it.
