After the release of its first trailer, "Gods of Egypt" was met with criticism aimed at the casting of white actors like Gerard Butler and Geoffrey Rush as Egyptian gods. The criticism was heard by both Lionsgate and director Alex Proyas, who apologized for the casting. Now cast member Chadwick Boseman, who plays the god Thoth, has weighed in on the controversy in an interview with GQ.

“I generally try to tune things like press controversy out, but some people around me told me, 'Hey... you might wanna look at this,'" Boseman explained to GQ. “And when I originally was approached with the script, I thought this [critique] might come up, I really did. And I’m thankful that it did, because actually, I agree with it. That’s why I wanted to do it, so you would see someone of African descent playing Thoth, the father of mathematics, astronomy, the god of wisdom. And in the movie, I actually outnumber the other gods in the movie, literally and figuratively. It's hard for people to know that without seeing it. But yeah -- people don't make $140 million movies starring black and brown people" With that, Boseman shook his head.

Following "Gods of Egypt," Boseman will make his debut as the superhero Black Panther in "Captain America: Civil War." Boseman's hero will then get his own big-budget feature film -- the first Marvel film to star a person of color in the lead role. "Black Panther" is currently scheduled for a February 16, 2018 release date.

“Gods of Egypt” -- which has a cast that also includes Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, Brenton Thwaites, Elodie Yung and Courtney Eaton -- is slated for a February 26, 2016 release.

(via Entertainment Weekly)