Jake Gyllenhaal is The Prince of Persia, says Hollywood Reporter

by Alexander Sliwinski { May 20th 2008 at 5:25PM }

Demented teenager, apocalypse survivor, bubble boy, bottom boi and now the Prince of Persia. Jake Gyllenhaal has been cast to play the title "roll" (tumble, flip) in The Prince of Persia movie adaptation produced by Jerry Bruckheimer, according to The Hollywood Reporter. Before the complaining begins, it could've been worse (read: it could've been Orlando Bloom).

Gyllenhaal will play Dastan, a sixth century Persian prince who joins up with Tamina (played by nooblet Gemma Arterton) in an attempt to prevent The Bad Guy from using the Sands of Time. Production begins in July, so Jake's got plenty of time for the serious waxing and spray-on tanning necessary for the role.

[Via Cinematical]

Tags: breakingnews, jake-gyllenhaal, prince-of-persia, prince-of-persia-movie

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)

Kerber @ May 20th 2008 5:28PM

You forgot "jarhead."

ViagraFiend @ May 20th 2008 5:35PM

didnt he play a gay cowboy?

oh...that was terrell owens...

tmacairjordan87 @ May 20th 2008 5:53PM

lmao

"That's my quarterback, my boy" *sniffle*

http://i.cdn.turner.com/sivault/multimedia/photo_gallery/0801/athletes.who.cry/images/ys(2).jpg

Trickob @ May 20th 2008 6:26PM

@ Viagra

I think that's what he means by "bottom boi"

I, however, could be wrong

Lewis (GT: StoneRevolver) @ May 20th 2008 6:42PM

Yea he was in Jarhead but he will forever be known as bubble boy, sadly.

xeleion @ May 20th 2008 8:20PM

You also forgot Animorphs... or am I the only one that watched that craptastic show?

tmacairjordan87 @ May 20th 2008 5:30PM

Gyllenhaal's the man!!!!!

But no prince of persia :(

Cesaria (MKW:2621-2994-1376) @ May 20th 2008 5:31PM

Why would anyone complain? He's a great actor.

sicsided @ May 20th 2008 5:32PM

Day after Tomorrow?

God i wanted to throw up from everything in that.

Cesaria (MKW:2621-2994-1376) @ May 20th 2008 5:36PM

Jake would make the most perfect Holden Caulfield. They need to make that movie now!

Ally @ May 20th 2008 5:37PM

Wasnt that the intended effect though?

huge tidal waves etc..

:P

Noshino @ May 20th 2008 5:39PM

I don't think he has been on any action movie, so you don't know wether he would be good for the role or not, well, I didn't see Jarhead, but still, I don't think a war movie gets anywhere close to the action of Prince of Persia...its more acrobatic moves than anything, something that he doesn't seem to have the body for...

tmacairjordan87 @ May 20th 2008 5:48PM

If the guy can go from bubble boy to brokeback mountain I think it's safe to say he's got some range in his acting skills.

Bouille @ May 20th 2008 8:30PM

Yea he's a great actor but a terrible: Persian, Prince, Acrobat, Badass, Warrior. Which are all qualities that could be good to see in a Warrior-Acrobat-Badass-Persian-Prince character. Don't ya think?

archie91s @ May 20th 2008 7:58PM

Man that's so fricken weird that you'd mention that....
Because I just finished reading the Catcher In The Rye a few days ago in school! I didn't think that anyone here would read a book like that or would catch that referance. But I heard that the author, JD Salinger, won't let anyone make a movie of the book because they'll ruin it. The author is still alive, but I heard that he's kind of crazy now and won't give any interviews with anyone or anything.

Adam @ May 20th 2008 5:34PM

Yeah. He's a good actor. That's more important than looking like the character.

LaughingTarget @ May 20th 2008 5:37PM

They didn't look very hard, that dude that played Prince Caspian would be a better choice.

Adam @ May 20th 2008 5:47PM

Jake Gyllenhaal's a better actor than that guy.

syrik zero @ May 20th 2008 5:42PM

Yeah, I feel it's a bad choice here

tmacairjordan87 @ May 20th 2008 5:57PM

Hey hey hey you never know what they'll do to make him look the part. Look what they did to robert downey jr.

http://highbridnation.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2008/04/tropicthunderver3.jpg

theturtle363 @ May 20th 2008 6:41PM

that was for his characters role as an actor, so he's supposed to not look the part.

Residentevil72501 @ May 20th 2008 5:46PM

Oh i never thought of Ben Barnes, your right he was would be a great choice, IMO he was awesome in Prince Caspian (Goood Movie, Better than the first so go watch it!).

Kristof @ May 20th 2008 5:51PM

Movie budgets are based on star power. Jake totes more star power, thus more money/budget, thus Bruckheimer can have more fancy effects. That's how it works in Hollywood. Stars = budget, and many producers want a big budget.

Yourself @ May 20th 2008 6:55PM

Is your avatar seriously Ol' Gregg? You really want to have that association?

LaughingTarget @ May 20th 2008 7:30PM

kristof fails, Prince Caspian had a whopping $200 million production budget with Ben Barnes. Not bad for a no-name, unless you think Prince will run a cool half-billion.

Benny @ May 20th 2008 5:51PM

I think Gyllenhaal is a great actor. I'm sure he'll do the role justice, even if he looks nothing whatsoever like a Persian.

He really should have been Spiderman though...

BrokenAbacus @ May 20th 2008 5:55PM

agreed!

Trickob @ May 20th 2008 6:28PM

triple agreed

ThornedVenom (Harley Quinn Defense Force) @ May 21st 2008 4:36AM

I think I read this somewhere, but the only reason why Toby MacGuire got the job in the first place was because he had the abs for it (for that scene where he wakes up on his bed and sees himself in the mirror, realizing the benefits of his accidental mutation).

DazzPFR @ May 20th 2008 5:52PM

Chicken Nuggets are delicious!

DocZoid @ May 20th 2008 5:53PM

"Jake Gyllenhaal has been cast to play the title roll in The Prince of Persia movie adaptation"

Subtle. Very subtle.
And I can't help but think 6th century Persian prince/acrobat, when I see Jake Gyllenhaal.

Trickob @ May 20th 2008 6:29PM

...who DOES come to mind, out of curiosity??

Trickob @ May 20th 2008 6:30PM

I'm assuming that you were being sarcastic btw. Ignore my former post if I'm mistaken

DocZoid @ May 20th 2008 6:35PM

Okay, okay. You caught me. Jake Gyllenhaal does. :(

Gehodra @ May 20th 2008 5:54PM

Donnie Darko sucked balls. Just thought I'd throw that out there.

Cesaria (MKW:2621-2994-1376) @ May 20th 2008 5:57PM

Not gonna bite...

riggs @ May 20th 2008 6:12PM

*throws it back at your FACE*

Nick the Hero of Canton @ May 20th 2008 6:20PM

"Mr. Madison, what you've just said is one of the most insanely idiotic things I have ever heard. At no point in your rambling, incoherent response were you even close to anything that could be considered a rational thought. Everyone in this room is now dumber for having listened to it. I award you no points, and may God have mercy on your soul."

Yeah, that's right. Twice in one day!

ugg.tryptophan @ May 20th 2008 6:56PM

Gehodra is sucking balls right now

Ryuukuro @ May 20th 2008 8:36PM

You're not the only one! I love movies _like_ Donnie Darko but DD itself was just a convoluted mess made up of lame 80s hipster references and pretentious sci-fi nonsense. Stand your ground, Gehodra. We're the ones who are right. The others are WRONG. :)

Gehodra @ May 20th 2008 9:02PM

The director's cut had stuff added to it in order for the movie to make any sense. That does not scream "good movie" to me.

But damn, you guys shredded me pretty quick. Heh.

Farseer (GDI) @ May 21st 2008 9:43AM

You're totally right Gehodra - whenever someone tries to justify DD to me, they always bring up scenes that were never in the movie. Then they proceed to tell me that I should have watched the director's cut.

A movie needs to stand on its own two feet when it hits the theater. Period. Movies are not video games - you can't patch them later if they don't work right.

PyrosNine @ May 20th 2008 5:54PM

I can take that he's a great actor, but this is the friggin prince of persia! Is he just gonna wireframe his way through the entire movie?!?

You need someone athletic! Who does stunts! And can wield a sword without cutting his own limbs off! And do some parkour!

I have never seen Mr. Gyllenhaal in any real action scenes, and Prince of Persia needs to be an action epic. Part Indiana Jones, part Matrix!

And he doesn't even come off as Cocky, Pompous, and yet capable to me in any of his characters that I know of, which are either gay, psychotic ubermensch, a angsty marine or a frigid New york survivor, And THe Frigid new york survivor (Day after tommorrow) is probably the closest he's had to an action role.

He's more a dramatic actor, to pull out emotions and for the audience to empathize with him, which a PoP movie doesn't really need! Like the wind lady in Riddick!

He's also apparently swedish Nobility, so that sorta makes him a prince, but come on!