Geoffrey Rush To Join Gerard Butler In ‘Gods Of Egypt’

Geoffrey Rush, known to many for his portrayal of Captain Hector Barbossa in the PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN franchise, will be joining Gerard Butler (300, OLYMPUS HAS FALLEN) and Nikolaj Coster-Waldau (GAME OF THRONES, OBLIVION) in Summit’s mythological fantasy GODS OF EGYPT. The film will be directed by Alex Proyas (KNOWING), who is also writing the screenplay with Burk Sharpless and Matt Sazamat. It will be produced by Basil Iwanyk’s Thunder Road Productions and Proyas’ Mystery Clock Cinema.

The film’s set-up  is lifted straight from Egyptian mythology and kicks off when Set, the god of chaos and the desert, kills his brother Osiris, god of fertility and the afterlife. Osiris’ son Horus, protector of the king, seeks to get revenge and ends up having his eye gouged out (fun fact – in the mythology, Horus’ eye was magically replaced, the tale behind the well-known ‘wedjat eye’ symbol which represented renewal and rebirth). This is where the story moves away from the legend and into Hollywood territory. A young human thief must become the hero, saving the slave girl he loves and defeating the evil Set.

Geoffrey Rush is set to play the role of the solar deity Ra who, for the purposes of the film, is the father of Osiris and Set (in the main Egyptian cosmogony they were instead the sons of the earth god Geb). Coster-Waldau is playing Horus and Butler will play Set.

As you may have picked up from the little facts I threw into this post, I personally have a strong interest in ancient Egyptian history and religion and, at this early stage at least, GODS OF EGYPT seems to be doing a lot of things right. I have been hoping for a movie like this for a long time, so it is very exciting indeed. Keep your wedjat eye on THN for all the news as it comes in.

Source: THR