Australian filmmaker Alex Proyas and Lionsgate have both apologised for the casting of action fantasy movie Gods of Egypt, which stars predominately white actors playing Egyptian gods.

The film is about mortals and gods of Ancient Egypt starring Brenton Thwaites (Australia), Nikolaj Coster-Waldau (Denmark), Gerard Butler (Scotland), Rufus Sewell (England) and Geoffrey Rush (Australia). The $US140 million film was shot at Sydney’s Fox Studios last year and opens in Australia on February 25 2016.

People’s response over Twitter has been largely critical of the film’s casting decision:

 


In joint statements released to Forbes, Lionsgate said: “We recognize that it is our responsibility to help ensure that casting decisions reflect the diversity and culture of the time periods portrayed. In this instance we failed to live up to our own standards of sensitivity and diversity, for which we sincerely apologise.

“Lionsgate is deeply committed to making films that reflect the diversity of our audiences. We have, can and will continue to do better.​​”

Alex Proyas said: “The process of casting a movie has many complicated variables, but it is clear that our casting choices should have been more diverse. I sincerely apologize to those who are offended by the decisions we made.”

The apology seems to have fallen on deaf ears: