Beyond not being a very good film, Exodus: Gods and Kings has received widespread criticism for its whitewashed portrayal of Egypt. It's a more-than-fair point, but star Christian Bale is having none of it.
Bale continued with an argument similar to director Ridley Scott, who said he couldn't have made a big budget film with "Mohammad so-and-so from such-and-such."
"I don’t think fingers should be pointed, but we should all look at ourselves and say, ‘are we supporting wonderful actors in films by north African and Middle Eastern film-makers and actors?’, because there are some fantastic actors out there," Bale said. "If people start supporting those films more and more, then financiers in the market will follow. The audience has to show financiers that they will be there, and [then] they could make a large-budget film. To me, that would be a day of celebration. For the actors, it would be wonderful. It would be a wonderful day for humanity, but also for films and for storytelling in general."
Bale acts like we'd have to live in some sort of utopia to make the Exodus cast less white, but that isn't the case. Even if 20th Century Fox insisted upon using well-known stars, there are plenty of famous black actors whose casting would have made the film more accurate. Instead we're left with another version of "white man saves the day."
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[via Flickering Myth]
