In an interview with Variety, Ridley Scott addressed complaints about the casting of his new film Exodus: Gods and Kings.
The biblical epic has been assailed for its casting of white actors in the leading roles rather than ethnically Egyptian performers. The Blade Runner director touched on the subject over the summer, but he went into further detail in this recent interview. Scott said that the reasons for casting white, A-list actors were fiscal in nature.
“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,” Scott said. “I’m just not going to get it financed. So the question doesn’t even come up.”
According to the Huffington Post, the film originally cost $200 million to make. European tax credits reportedly brought the cost down to $160 million.
Exodus: Gods and Kings stars Christian Bale as Moses, Joel Edgerton as Ramses and Aaron Paul as Joshua. The film will be released in theaters on Dec. 12.
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