‘Exodus Gods And Kings’ May Have Bigger Problems Than Racially Insensitive Casting
If you were hoping that Ridley Scott’s foray into the sword-and-sandal biblical epic would be a flop, sorry to disappoint you, but doesn’t seem to be. According to Deadline Hollywood, Exodus: Gods and Kings is on track for a box office haul in the mid-$20 million range, which is well in line with Fox Studios’ projections. Exodus: Gods and Kings isn’t a runaway hit either. At just under $20 million, it will have a smaller opening weekend than Scott’s last sword-and-sandal epic, Gladiator, for which he won an Academy Award for Best Picture. It’s also less than the last old testament adaptation, Darren Arronofsky’s Noah, which was released by Paramount Pictures earlier this year.
To be sure, Exodus: Gods and Kings is a familiar story to most people who grew up in a Judeo-Christian household, or happened to have access to a television during the spring. Legendary director Cecil B. DeMille famously took on the story twice, in 1923 and in 1956. In 1998, Dreamworks released Prince of Egypt, an animated version of the same story that grossed over $200 million. While the journey of DeMille’s Moses is rooted in love, goodness, and familial ties, the Moses (Christian Bale) of Exodus: Gods and Kings comes off more as a man who frees the Jews from slavery in Egypt because he knows he’s a better man than Ramses II (Joel Edgerton). Critics have widely praised Bale and Edgerton’s performances in Exodus: Gods and Kings.
The talent and artistic choices of director Ridley Scott are where Exodus: Gods and Kings has taken the bulk of it’s criticism. While the characters in Exodus: Gods and Kings are all either Egyptian or Hebrew, the bulk of the cast is comprised of Caucasian actors. There are some actors of color, most notably Ben Kingsley, almost all of the female cast, and many of the extras, but none of them have a substantial part to play or get much screen time.
Ridley Scott’s comments after the casting controversy over Exodus: Gods and Kings broke were deemed insensitive by Time Magazine, and led some to call for a boycott. Rupert Murdoch, the infamous head of NewsCorp, parent company of Fox Studios, weighed in on the controversy in late November via his Twitter account, and promptly made it worse.
Moses film attacked on Twitter for all white cast. Since when are Egyptians not white? All I know are.
— Rupert Murdoch (@rupertmurdoch) November 29, 2014
Deadline Hollywood predicts that the ultimate success or failure of Exodus: Gods and Kings won’t be apparent until sometime next weekend, when the target Christian audiences have had ample time to see the film, and word of mouth will either sustain ticket sales or make them slow to a trickle.
