Gods of Egypt
Short description
Gods of Egypt is set in a mythic version of ancient Egypt where the gods live among mortals and the throne has been seized by Set, the god of darkness, after he kills his brother Osiris. Order collapses as Set imposes a ruthless rule. A mortal thief, Bek, loses his beloved Zaya to the underworld and seeks out Horus, the blinded and exiled god of the sky. The two form an uneasy alliance: Bek restores Horus's sight, and together they set out to challenge Set and his forces, journeying between the world of the living and the realm of the dead while facing a series of trials.
Alex Proyas directed and produced the film from a screenplay by Matt Sazama and Burk Sharpless. It was his sixth feature, following The Crow, Dark City, Garage Days, I, Robot and Knowing, and it returned him to the large-scale fantasy territory of his earlier work. The cast includes Nikolaj Coster-Waldau as Horus, Brenton Thwaites as Bek, Gerard Butler as Set, Chadwick Boseman as Thoth, Élodie Yung as Hathor and Geoffrey Rush as Ra. It was a substantial international production mounted by Lionsgate, Summit Entertainment, Thunder Road and Pyramania.
The scale of the production is reflected in a budget of around 140 million US dollars. Its worldwide gross of roughly 151 million dollars stands close to that figure, making the theatrical run a modest return on the investment. Audience response was subdued: on IMDb the film holds 5.4 out of 10 from about 135,000 votes, and on TMDB 5.7 out of 10 from more than 4,400 votes. A critics' rating of 3.7 out of 10, drawn from 193 reviews, is lower still, putting professional appraisal well below even the modest audience scores.
What's left behind the scenes
- No actors from Egypt participated in the film.
- This is the first film shot using the new "Primo 70" lenses from "Panavision".
- Around 200 people (from actors to crew members and technicians) who worked on "Gods of Egypt" had previously worked on "Mad Max: Fury Road" (2015). These include the first assistant director (P.J. Wotten), the special effects supervisor (Julian Dimsdale), stunt performers (Tim Wong and others), and actors (Courtney Eaton, Abby Lee, and many others).
- Actor Nikolay Koster-Waldau had to lose weight to participate in the filming.
- The film's plot is based on ancient Egyptian myths about the struggle between the gods Horus and Seth for power in Egypt.
- Filming of scenes in the Sahara Desert took place in Australia. The filmmakers considered filming in the Sahara Desert itself too dangerous.
- This is Alex Proyas' first feature film in seven years.
- This is the second collaboration between British actor Rufus Sewell and director Alex Proyas. The first was the film 'Dark City' (1998).
- Set in the mythology of ancient Egypt is also the god of war.
- The theme of the jackal is clearly traced on Set's armor; this animal was associated with the god Anubis, the guide of the dead to the afterlife, by the Egyptians.
- The deities wear clothing or armor corresponding to their image in ancient Egyptian mythology. Set and Horus’ armor resembles their traditional animal forms of the jackal and falcon, respectively, while Hathor and Thoth’s helmets are shaped like a cow’s head and an ibis.
- In the film, Horus has both eyes gouged out, and then one is restored. In mythology, he originally lost only one eye.
- In the episode where the gods and a human walk through a body of water, the water level is the same for all of them, despite the enormous difference in height.
- The weapon used by the deities is called a "battle scepter." In ancient Egypt, it was associated with rulers – gods and pharaohs.
- Gerard Butler later recounted that as soon as he read the word “God” in the script in relation to his character, he immediately understood that he would have to work on his physique. The actor immediately began training because he wanted to look “appropriate” by the start of filming.
- Alex Proyas and Lionsgate were forced to apologize for the predominantly white cast of the film.
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