See Jake Gyllenhaal as Prince of Persia

by Justin McElroy on Aug 12th 2008 8:30AM

Well, Joystiq Biomass, we need your help. JustJared nabbed these, the first pics of Jake Gyllenhaal as Dastan in the upcoming Prince of Persia film. What we need your help on figuring out is if we're excited by these pictures or not.

No, we don't mean sexually excited, that's obvious. (Look at him!) No, we mean from a fanboy point of view. Is this close enough to your vision of the Prince to let you be a little hopeful? Or is the director's disregard for the source material still a deal breaker?

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

Source

Tags: movies, prince-of-persia

Reader Comments (93)

Uncanny.

He's too freakin' white. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I was under the impression that the character is Arabic. He's the Prince of Persia, not the Emo of Sherman Oaks.

Arabs =/= Persians.

He's not too bad but I always imagined that a live action prince would be much hotter. He looks too bubbly and not strong. I guess there's always post-production that could improve him?

I kinda expected the prince to be less muscle bound and more defined, this guy doesn't look like he could run up a wall to save his life ¬_¬

the arms and shoulders aren't that bad, but he really does need to pound out a couple hours of ab crunches and stuff for a few weeks before I'm willing to give him a pass for the part.

Are you guys freak'n kidding me? How is the American standard for conditioning so high for movies and so low for ourselves? The guy's got a vein running the length of his arm. I'd say he's effectively ripped.

I agree, too bubbly. Ever since I saw the bubble boy I can't watch any movie with this putz, all I can think of is either him bouncing around a palace in a bubble or him sucking on the other prince in the next cell.

Oh yeah, cos none of us have veins in our arms...

Do curls for about 3-4 weeks and you'd get a vein like that showing.

Although more importantly my problem with this actor is his face. He's great for roles like donny darko and jarhead, real people, but he just looks a little bit...goofy maybe? I dunno, not quite right, not quite cool enough.

Plus the Prince is supposed to be lean and rely on skill and acrobatics, not huge muscles.

But as long as its acted well i couldnt care less about those things in all honesty. (although the chances of good acting being allowe to show through in a video game movie are virtually non-existant)

OMG he's dreamy. I might have to take down my Damon Baird poster and replace it with this!

I wish I knew how to quit him!

I'm actually impressed, and Sands of Time was pretty much my favourite game ever. So that's good.

not bad, now can he re-do the whole spiderman series too?

Dunno, doesn't look convincing to me. Also looks like he's showing off, 'look at me, I'm so hot, you're just jealous that you are not".

Someone's got an inferiority complex, huh?

lol, not at all, but its the smug look and the way hes posing as he walks. Lmao

I guess he's really nailing the character then. =)

In that respect, yeh, maybe, lol, still doesn't change the fact he looks too beefed up in that pic

He's holding some (possibly fat) woman's hand in that picture. I don't think he's really showing off in it. :P

@ Roto13
that fat chick is Reese Witherspoon

Give the guy a break! He's just squinting because its bright out.

Lmao 10/10

Looks the part, but all I seem to picture in my head now is that look and his voice in Bubble Boy. Doesn't seem right.

bubble vato

He look's sexy enough..where was that body in Brokeback mountain? hello!?!

But I'm disappointed they didn't pick someone middle-eastern to play , you know...the prince of PERSIA! I was impressed with hollywood when i first heard they were going to do POP because of the ethnic diversity implied in the title. Casting white actors for non-white roles is so 1960's hollywood. It makes no sense.

Just out of curiousness, do you have any suggestions for a replacement "Persian" actor? :]

What about Oded Fehr? He seems pretty (and Persia-esque). Just not sure about his age factor.

Um, the Prince of Persia in the video game was a white guy. heh

I think Luke Goss, who played King Xerxes in One Night With King, did a great job as a someone who wasn't born in the Middle East (he was actually born in Europe). So there is hope for Jake.

Well, here's some round about logic for you:

There was a SNL digital short called "I ran (so far away)" that was a play on that I Ran song, but they were singing about Iran (the country) and the president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. In the video, Jake Gyllenhaal was compared to Mahmoud Ahmadinejad as being a look-alike.. and as we all know, Iran is sitting on top of the ancient kingdom of persia, so there you have it.

:D

I'm gonna have to pass on this one, lest it blemish my staunch record of heterosexuality.

He is not bad, but I still think his face looks goofy.

Doesn't look very Persian to me.

What does Persian look like to you ?

C'mon man, even the Prince in the games didn't look Persian

Brodi - Since Persia was part of asia, an asian. Or if you want to be really specific an Iranian since Persia used to be the name for Iran in the west.

Seeing as how Iranians are not Asian or Arab but ethnically Caucasian, this seems about right.

To see what Iranians (at least some) look like, check out the athelte bios from http://nbcolympics.com. Jake could fit in actually.

Nah dude, I'm Syrian, and I have plenty of Persian friends and I'm pretty sure there's no predefined middle eastern "look". He can pass off as persian. I mean, all you really need is that facial hair and chest hair...and you're good to go.

And to krizoitz, you made a distinction between arabs and iranians, and went on to say iranians are ethnically Caucasian. The semitic race can be considered caucasian too(which includes jews and arabs), so what you said basically makes no sense.

queer as folk

That's probably as close as we're gonna get with a real actor. I'm not holding my breath though. Honestly I couldn't really care less how identical he is to the original, all that really matters is that the movie stays true to the story.

I guess one thing that he could do to look more like the Prince of Persia is not be a white guy.

Ha. Ya. You think they could have gotten a Persian... but given the whole US-Iran climate, it's clearly a marketing decision to use Jake.

Does anyone think this movie is going to be any good anyway?

Yeah no he doesn't look very persian at all.

I would imagine a smaller less buff, but more ripped actor since in the games, the prince isn't buffed at all.

Isn't this also going to be a Disney movie?

His hair just seems wrong. Too much scruff and his hair looks fake.

Very disappointing that the main character isn't Middle Eastern. As many actors as they're are in Bollywood, they couldn't find ONE?

First Tom Cruise as the last samurai, now this...

"First Tom Cruise as the last samurai, now this..."

What the hell are you talking about? The whole point in that story was that he was a white European guy who defected.

Thing is Tom Cruise wasn't a Samurai he was an American Soldier who was captured and accepted his captures ways as a way towards redemption.

This they actually want you to believe he is a Persian Prince. Thing is I can't judge the movie from some pic of him dressed up, I would have to actually see his mannerisms and hear dialogue and such. But I don't think Jack Gyllenhaal can ever hope to really pull this off. So it is up to writing and effects..... Oiy.

Did you watch the last samurai, or did you just look at the cover?

Tom Cruise was never meant to be Japanese, he was a American that gets captured

You should read a book before you judge its cover

Damn can someone give me the number to his personal trainer? I need him badly :P

His personal trainer is Wolfgang Puck.

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See Jake Gyllenhaal as Prince of Persia

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