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This isn't the first time a film has faced controversy over the race of its actors. But it may be the first time, at least in recent memory, that a director and studio have apologized for those casting choices.
On Friday, director Alex Proyas, best known for "Dark City," "The Crow" and "I, Robot," and Lionsgate, the studio releasing the film, issued separate statements to Forbes, apologizing for the casting of "Gods of Egypt."
The sword-and-sandal epic is set in ancient Egypt but stars a slew of white and European actors.
Alex Proyas: “The process of casting a movie has many complicated variables, but it is clear that our casting choices should have been more diverse. I sincerely apologize to those who are offended by the decisions we made.”
Lionsgate: "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. Lionsgate is deeply committed to making films that reflect the diversity of our audiences. We have, can and will continue to do better.”
The controversy began two weeks ago when Lionsgate released the first trailer for the movie, which is set to come out February 26.
Ridley Scott faced a similar controversy with his film "Exodus: Gods and Kings," which came out a year ago and starred Christian Bale and Joel Edgerton.
He was frank and unapologetic about his casting choices, famously telling Variety:
“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. I’m just not going to get it financed. So the question doesn’t even come up.”
"Pan" featured Rooney Mara as the Native American character Tiger Lily; the Cameron Crowe rom-com "Aloha" starred Emma Stone as a part-Chinese, part-Hawaiian, part-Swedish woman; the 2013 Disney film "The Lone Ranger" featured Johnny Depp as Tonto; "The Last Airbender," which was based on an animated series in which many of the characters were inferred to be Asian, featured few Asian actors; and "The Prince of Persia" starred Jake Gyllenhaal in the titular role.
Those are just recent examples.
Nearly every biblical epic made by a Hollywood studio could be accused, to one degree or another, of "whitewashing." And the practice isn't limited to period pieces.
It dates back to cinema's origins. In 1915, "Birth of a Nation" by D.W. Griffith featured white actors in blackface.
Since then, the practice has been deployed with regularity.
There's Yul Brynner in "The King and I," Natalie Wood in "West Side Story," Mickey Rooney in "Breakfast at Tiffany's," Christopher Lee as Fu Manchu and any number of white stars playing Native Americans. That only skims the surface.
What's striking about "Gods of Egypt" isn't that white actors were cast to play Middle Eastern characters. It's the apology issued by Lionsgate and Proyas, who is Australian but was born in Egypt.
With most of the recent "whitewashing" controversies, studios and filmmakers have either attempted to ignore the issue or remained defiant like Scott and "Last Airbender" director M. Night Shyamalan who told i09, "The great thing about anime is that it's ambiguous."
As filmmaker Ava DuVernay, who directed last year's award-winning Selma, tweeted on Saturday:
This kind of apology never happens - for something that happens all the time. An unusual occurrence worth noting.