'Gods of Egypt' is an upcoming action-adventure and fantasy film starring Nikolaj Coster-Waldau and Gerard Butler as battling Egyptian deities. It recently unveiled its newest action-packed trailer ahead of the February 26 scheduled release.
According to ComingSoon, Lionsgate recently released the official trailer for Alex Proyas' adventure-fantasy film and offered the first look at the mythical world of Egyptian gods. It featured monsters, mortals and gods embroiled in a spectacular battle.
The new film is inspired by Egyptian mythology and follows a mortal hero on a quest to save humanity and rescue his true love. He forms an unlikely alliance with Horus, the all-powerful sky god, in an attempt to wage war against Set, the equally powerful god of darkness and violence.
Australian actor Brenton Thwaites is cast as the mortal hero alongside Nikolaj Coster-Waldau and Gerard Butler, according to /Film. The latter two play Horus and Set, respectively. It also stars Chadwick Boseman, Elodie Yung, Courtney Eaton, Bryan Brown and Geoffrey Rush.
Upon announcement of its ensemble cast, it suffered a backlash from critics and audiences alike. It was accused of "whitewashing" as the principal characters in the film did not feature any actors of Middle Eastern descent. Coster-Waldau is Danish, Butler is Scottish, Yung is French-Cambodian while Boseman is an American hailing from South Carolina.
Despite the "whitewashing" controversy, production for the film pushed through. Principal photography took place in Australia under the studio Summit Entertainment.
According to Forbes, director Alex Proyas described 'Gods of Egypt' as a modern reimagining to Hollywood blockbuster films of the yesteryears. He explained that it was "the kinds of movies my dad would take us to at the drive-in. Mostly double-features which would start before the sun had set, so sometimes you could barely tell what was on the screen. All part of the magical childhood experience of movies."
Proyas admitted that he was heavily influenced by classic films such as 'Lawrence of Arabia', 'The Man Who Would Be King', 'Raiders of the Lost Ark' and 'The Guns of Navarone'.
'Gods of Egypt' is an upcoming action-adventure and fantasy film scheduled to be released on February 26, 2016. It is directed by Alex Proyas based on a screenplay by Matt Sazama and Burk Sharpless. Proyas and Basil Iwanyk are serving as producers with Topher Dow, Brian Bookman, Stephen Jones, Kent Kubena and Michael Paseornek executive producing.
