‘Exodus’ racial casting controversy is a familiar one

Before it even hits theaters, director Ridley Scott’s Biblical epic “Exodus: Gods and Kings” has generated heated debate and controversy because of its alleged “whitewashing” of Egyptian culture.

The film stars white actors Christian Bale, Joel Edgerton and Sigourney Weaver as Egyptians, while critics point out that black members of the cast are largely relegated to playing servants, assassins and thieves. Edgerton, a blonde-haired, blue-eyed Australian who plays the iconic Ramses, is made to appear more ethnic with the use of make-up and copious eyeliner.

“To make the main characters white and everyone else African is cinematic colonialism,” wrote David Dennis Jr. in post for Medium. ”It’s creating a piece of historical ‘art’ that carries on oppressive imagery that’s helped shackle entire countries and corners of the world.”

Edgerton has said he “empathizes” with those who consider the movie culturally insensitive. “It’s not my job to make those decisions … I got asked to do a job, and it would have been very hard to say no to that job,” he told Australian broadcaster SBS.

Yet, director Scott has been unmoved. In widely criticized comments on the issue, the 77-year-old filmmaker defended his casting choices as a matter of commerce. “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,” he told Variety.

“I’m just not going to get it financed. So the question doesn’t even come up,” he added.

Later, Scott made a more delicate defense of his film in an interview with Yahoo! Australia, arguing that Egypt has always been “a confluence of cultures.”

“We cast major actors from different ethnicities to reflect this diversity of culture, from Iranians to Spaniards to Arabs,” Scott said. “There are many different theories about the ethnicity of the Egyptian people, and we had a lot of discussions about how to best represent the culture.”

Media mogul Rupert Murdoch, whose 20th Century Fox is releasing the film, also rushed to Scott’s defense. On Nov. 28, in a series of tweets, Murdoch dismissed complaints about “Exodus”.