The Driving Force Behind ‘Gods Of Egypt’

Although Gods Of Egypt is not based upon his script, it is a subject that has fascinated Proyas since childhood. He was just unable to create a script that did it justice, but jumped at the opportunity to direct when one came along. “I really wanted to make a story about Egyptian mythology. The Egyptian myths have not been as well covered as other ancient mythologies. Having been born in Egypt, my granddad told me all these stories as a kid. My granddad was a great artist, and he would often draw pictures of Egyptian gods. That has a lot to do with my passion for this picture.”

That was not the only element from Proyas' childhood that inspired him. He wanted to capture a pulp adventure tone, like those films of yore. “It is designed as my ode to old-fashioned movies. Those films like Lawrence Of Arabia, The Man Who Would Be King, and Raiders Of The Lost Ark. So it was inspired by those films I got to see as a kid in the drive-ins. They were big epic adventures that were absolutely great fun.”

The result is one of the most effects-heavy films that Proyas has ever made. “I've used digital effects on all my films. Visual effects are a tough thing to fit into a movie well, it takes a lot of time and effort. I think this movie has been my longest post production time. On the other side, directors are control freaks and this gives us an opportunity to align what we see on the screen to the vision we have in our head.”

However, just because a thing can be done digitally, doesn't mean that is always the best option. “Mixing techniques is a good thing, it provides a very practical way of achieving a lot.”

Proyas' career has often been one of the strange and fanciful, with science fiction and fantasy being his genres of choice. “I was an avid science fiction and fantasy reader as a kid. It is a genre of ideas. A great delivery medium for intellectual and philosophical ideas. “

Originally published in X-Press Magazine