Ridley Scott has caught a lot of flak for the casting in his upcoming epic Exodus: Gods and Kings not because of the actors themselves (Christian Bale and Joel Edgerton are both great at their jobs), but because of the fact that they’re white men playing Egyptians.
Scott doesn’t have time for that kind of PC nonsense, however. When Variety asked him about the overwhelming whiteness of his Middle Eastern epic, the director said “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.”
Well OK then, Ridley. Good to know about your whole anti-actors-named-Mohammad stance.
[via Gawker]