Gyllenhaal plays Dastan, a young prince in sixth century Persia who must join forces with Tamina (Arterton), a feisty and exotic princess, to prevent a villainous nobleman from possessing the Sands of Time, a gift from the gods that can reverse time and allow its possessor to rule the world.
Prince of Persia is being produced by powerhouse producer Jerry Bruckheimer, directed by Donnie Brasco, Mona Lisa Smile and Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire helmer Mike Newell, and written by both Jeffrey Nachmanoff (The Day After Tomorrow) and one of the game's creators, Jordan Mechner. The film was scheduled to start shooting in July in both Morocco and England. Prince of Persia stars Jake Gyllenhaal, Gemma Arterton, Ben Kingsley, and Alfred Molina.
It's now official - Jake Gyllenhaal and Gemma Arterton will play Prince and Princess in the upcoming video game adaptation Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time. Gyllenhaal will play Dastan, a young prince in sixth century Persia who must join forces with Tamina (Arterton), a feisty and exotic princess, to prevent a villainous nobleman from possessing the Sands of Time, a gift from the gods that can reverse time and allow its possessor to rule the world. Obviously Arterton's agent is kicking ass, because she's gone from nearly nothing to a big name in both Quantum of Solace and now Prince of Persia! Jerry Bruckheimer is producing and Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire's Mike Newell is directing this video game adaptation, with filming slated to begin in June in Morocco and England.
Its obvious that they've tweaked the storyline a bit, changing the names of both the Prince and Princess Farah, but considering Jordan Mechner, one of the game's original creators, has been intricately involved in the development of the script, I'm not at all worried. I've been looking forward to this adaptation since I first heard about it, and now it sounds like Gyllenhaal is going to go down in history as the actor that lead the way in finally showing Hollywood how great video game movies can actually be. Gemma Arterton is also a gorgeous addition, but I can't say much for her acting yet. However, I am intrigued by the choice to use more Americanized actors as opposed to more ethnic alternatives. Thoughts?
You can read on first showing.net, a great update on the status from Jerry Bruckheimer back in early December, who also shares his story of how he was first introduced to the video game and how they plan to be the first to break the bad video game movie mold. Prince of Persia: Sands of Time is currently set to arrive in theaters next summer on June 19th, 2009. We'll be sure to bring you more updates as we hear them!
