Orlando Bloom not the Prince of Persia [updated]

61 Comments by Christopher Grant Apr 7th 2008 4:28PM
Filed under: Culture

Update: Well, that's a relief. ComingSoon.net relays word from Disney that Orlando Bloom has not been cast as the eponymous prince. As for David Zandi ... we're still rooting for you, mate!

Original post:

Just forget about focus group-favorite David Zandi; who needs a real Persian prince anyhow? Instead – in what must have been a fevered race to cast the prettiest, and least Persian-looking, male actor working in Hollywood – Orlando Bloom apparently edged out Zac Efron for the title role in Jerry Bruckheimer's mega-budget "not a video game movie" adaptation of Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time.

The downside: Bloom's reportedly pulling in $40 million for the role (fun fact: that's $40 million more than any of us will ever see). The upside: We're glad to know there's at least one casting director in Hollywood who probably doesn't disagree with our choice of Woody Allen as Marcus Fenix in Gears of War.

[Via Cinematical]

Gallery: Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time

Tags: movies, Orlando-Bloom, Prince-of-Persia, Prince-of-Persia-movie

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(Page 1) Reader Comments

Crono (NDF - Knight of the Old School): Apr 7th 2008; 4:30PM

suxxor

Matt Ferens: Apr 7th 2008; 4:31PM

Ya know, maybe this won't be that bad...

Vegnagun bwf: Apr 7th 2008; 4:56PM

Or maybe Orlando Bloom will be in it, you never know.

Maverick Saturn: Apr 7th 2008; 4:31PM

Stupid, really stupid.

Darayz: Apr 7th 2008; 4:32PM

BOOOO!!!!!!

(just preparing for when I do see it as a straight-to-video release)

THE WICKER MAN (BWF) (GT: Dalek Prime): Apr 7th 2008; 4:32PM

its not like his average to crappy performance can drag this turd down any lower.

Mikey: Apr 7th 2008; 4:34PM

I just landed a titular line in the Prince of Persia movie. In the script, my character plays a stowaway. I'm hiding in the ship where all the workers are, because I'm always stowing away, and I see Orlando Bloom in disguise as a ship worker. So I say "Wow, you're the Prince of Persia!" and he's like "I know." And then he shoots a guy and runs away. Man, I hope I don't get cut. That would be a bummer.

DigTheDoug: Apr 7th 2008; 4:40PM

Hey, didn't I see you in Star Wars and Out of Africa as well? I believe that you 'sure were tired of all these Star Wars'...

THE WICKER MAN (BWF) (GT: Dalek Prime): Apr 7th 2008; 4:58PM

Oh boy im just so tired of all these star wars. I cant wait to get out of africa. Im here to do the minimovie.

Johnny Hundo: Apr 7th 2008; 6:37PM

Check your pockets.... asspennies.

ViagraFiend: Apr 7th 2008; 4:36PM

Ya know, every time someone says have you seen _______? My first question is:

"Is Orlando Bloom in it?"
"Yes"
"STFU then"

Ombre: Apr 7th 2008; 4:39PM

Orlando Bloom isn't exactly going to pull in the young adult male demographic to the movies when this comes out... cuz face it, that's the main audience this movie is designed to attract. Well, it'll come bite them in the ass later.

Yourself: Apr 7th 2008; 4:42PM

No... but it will pull in the young female demographic, while the title alone will take care of the male. He's just a way to make sure they cover both bases.

Kodros: Apr 7th 2008; 4:44PM

Yeah, because not a lot of young adult males have seen Pirates of the Caribbean or Lord of the Rings.

ChooChooCharlie (Brawl: 1504-5357-9285): Apr 7th 2008; 4:46PM

Here's hoping they cast an attractive Farah to make up for it.

ComicShaman: Apr 7th 2008; 4:47PM

@Kodros

I don't suppose you can think of any other reasons why Pirates and LOTR might have succeeded at the box office besides the presence of Orlando Bloom?

cjshrader: Apr 7th 2008; 5:10PM

@ChooChooCharlie

I'm fairly confident they won't be casting an unattractive one.

markhill66: Apr 7th 2008; 4:45PM

At least this means that they are going to actually spend some time and money on. OB does star in two of the biggest movie franchises of all time, so this won't be some Uwe Boll chop job.

J: Apr 7th 2008; 4:47PM

40 million? Doesn't that sound a wii excessive? Is that his true salary? I'm thinking that's if the movie hits certain goals, etc.

ComicShaman: Apr 7th 2008; 5:04PM

"Wii" excessive? Well, I suppose if Orlando comes with motion-sensitive controls, it might be worth it for some people...

scoob: Apr 7th 2008; 4:49PM

Bloom is not on 40 million per. His going rate is no more than five million a picture.

Van: Apr 7th 2008; 4:50PM

Wait a minute... So you're saying Woody Allen ISN'T going to star as Marcus Fenix!?! NOOOOOOOO!!! I refuse to see it!

brandon_r87 : Brawl : 4897-5857-5091: Apr 7th 2008; 4:50PM

That's a shame. Not that I have anything against Bloom as an actor, but he just doesn't fit the role. It just shows that they are more worried about money than making it faithful to the material. I don't know what I was expecting though, being a Disney/Bruckheimer flick and all.

mr nimblewick: Apr 7th 2008; 6:48PM

Are you really worried about it being faithful to PRINCE OF PERSIA? The series couldn't even stay faithful to itself.

brandon_r87 : Brawl : 4897-5857-5091: Apr 8th 2008; 12:47AM

Alright true, I meant faithful to the first game, which had the best story and mood. The second one was fun, but the story and mood sucked, especially when the metal music came in.

Reuben: Apr 7th 2008; 4:52PM

Alright, I had my doubts before but I remained optimistic... I'm finished; I've thrown in the towel. I'm officially not seeing this movie.

I can't stand Orlando Bloom.

Kangstarr: Apr 7th 2008; 4:55PM

Hollywood's other "Persian" misses

-Morgan Freeman as Azeem in Robin Hood
-All the Persians in "300"
-Rob Schneider as an Arab in "You Don't Mess with Zohan"
-Aladdin in "Disney's Aladdin"

Funny thing is...i'm not even Arab and I noticed these things...

Kangstarr: Apr 7th 2008; 5:02PM

Damn..how could I forget?

Shaquille O'Neal as Kazaam!

cardinalguy: Apr 7th 2008; 5:23PM

Azeem wasn't Persian; he was a Moor (North Africa).

makishima: Apr 7th 2008; 5:23PM

Actually Morgan Freeman was not in fact "Persian" he was Moorish. Please educate yourself next time. Or at the very least, pay attention to the movies dialog. Ya know? That story thing they put in between the action? I realize that might be hard with Kevin Costner on screen sometimes, but come on.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moors

Kangstarr: Apr 7th 2008; 5:54PM

Thanks for the wiki link. I shall never call Morgan Freeman a Persian ever again.

Yourself: Apr 7th 2008; 8:48PM

Just for the record: Aladdin is Chinese in the story. So Disney not only didn't cast someone of the right nationality; they didn't even draw someone of the right nationality.

Shmil (Brawl Code 2621-2310-1994): Apr 7th 2008; 5:05PM

So, when this movie comes out will there be a movie to game adaptation?

samfish: Apr 7th 2008; 5:06PM

If you're going to cast him in a video game movie, just get it over with and cast him as Link. It's what we're all thinking, anyway.

Lone Starr: Apr 7th 2008; 5:08PM

I used to like Bloom but now he just strikes me as tired and overrated. Plus that Zandi guy looked badass...

rTwelve: Apr 7th 2008; 5:17PM

Dude Zandi was already trained for this role

SADNESS

JRM: Apr 7th 2008; 5:17PM

I just lost interest in watching this movie :(

Batzarro: Apr 7th 2008; 5:21PM

NOOOOO! The recent game's protagonist really struck me as a Persian, man. MAN THIS'LL BE SO INNACCURATE IT'LL SUUUUUuuuuuuuuuck...

doom saber: Apr 7th 2008; 5:28PM

Sadly, it isn't suprisin' of how they choosed Bloom over a Perisan especially how Hollywood literally alters the main protagonist's race from Asian American to Caucassian American in the recent m0vie, 21, which is based on a true story BTW.

BATZARRO: Apr 9th 2008; 9:54PM

Every year, 30000000 acres of sarcasms are lost. Sace our sarcasm.

obo: Apr 7th 2008; 5:22PM

On the bright side, it's not Zac Efron.

doom saber: Apr 7th 2008; 5:24PM

Better to have the guy in Pirates, Troy, and LOTR than the teen who starred in the High School Musical films. I would rather have someone who is from Persia, but since this is Hollywood, I guess Bloom is the lesser evil out of the two casting choices.

NvM: Apr 7th 2008; 5:25PM

His arrows can't block out the sun.

Mr.ESC: Apr 7th 2008; 8:07PM

Well at least we don't have to fight in the shadow.

JonFitt: Apr 7th 2008; 5:32PM

They're not banking on doing the whole series then, he's not Emo enough to play the PoP in the sequels.

John C: Apr 7th 2008; 5:35PM

Oh, come on. I don't think he'd be too bad. He has that Erol Flynn look about him. He has (Hollywood) experience with weaponry. He's physically up to the part. I was pleasantly surprised by his portrayal in Kingdom of Heaven.

And let's keep some perspective here. This is a Bruckheimer film. Do you honestly think he's going for historical accuracy? My guess is that it's supposed to be a fun, summer popcorn flick.

He should go for it

Studio Insider: Apr 7th 2008; 5:55PM

BIG IMPORTANT NEWS:

I am currently working for Mr. Bruckheimer, and I can let you all in on a secret- We are looking at Keira Knightly for the role of Farah, Jeffrey Rush to play the part of the Vizier, and Johnny Depp to play the part of Orlando Blooms father. We are going to be working with Industrial Light and Magic (ILM) to do some really amazing cg effects as well. Also the setting has been changed to the Gulf of Mexico. Stay tuned for more secret updates!!!111!

Roto13: Apr 7th 2008; 5:55PM

At least it isn't Zack Effron.

MOT: Apr 7th 2008; 6:10PM

Well, the casting would have been the difference between whether I go see it or download it. Guess I'll be downloading this one.

mykie: Apr 7th 2008; 6:14PM

This is good news!

Now I'll finally be able to trick my wife into watching a video game movie with me!

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