Every inch the charismatic prince - Jake goes PoP and escapes 2012

It is clear that for some, Jake Gyllenhaal is an unlikely choice for the role of Prince Dastan in Prince of Persia. One can only assume that these commentors come from the gaming world and have had little experience of the cinema since the days of Donnie Darko. Clearly, not enough people saw Jarhead. But a lot of people will see the Prince of Persia.


The news that Jake will indeed be the Prince of Persia was broken by Hollywood Reporter, who gave us some background: 'In the fantasy adventure, Gyllenhaal will play Dastan, a young prince in 6th 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. Doug Miro and Carlo Bernard, Jordan Mechner and Boaz Yakin wrote the script, which is based on the games created by Jordan Mechner. Bruckheimer is producing, while Mike Stenson, Chad Oman and Patrick McCormick are executive producing. Bruckheimer praised Gyllenhaal as "charismatic" and has high hopes for Arterton, who tested for the role. Bruckheimer declined comment on the "Persia" budget other than to say, "It's not one of our smaller productions." Production is set to start in July in Morocco and England.'


Variety added more from Bruckheimer: '"He's a wonderful actor," Bruckheimer said. "He's someone I've been watching for a long time and somebody I've always wanted to work with."'


While we know Bruckheimer for the Pirates of the Caribbean trilogy, British director Mike Newell has directed some gems over the years, including Dance with a Stranger, Four Weddings and a Funeral, Donnie Brasco and my own personal favourite Enchanted April - all of these films have been characterised by fine acting, attracting to more than one project actors of the calibre of Miranda Richardson for example. And just as Maggie Gyllenhaal is to act in a future film directed by Sam Mendes, Jake will now be acting for one of his sister's past directors - Newell directed Maggie, Julia Roberts and Kirsten Dunst in Mona Lisa Smile, back in 2003.


And as for the nonsense that Jake doesn't look Persia enough....just remember this and I think this picture says it all.


However, a note of warning: not even that most follically gifted of actors, Jake Gyllenhaal, can be expected to grow the locks modelled by the videogame Prince of Persia by July. This means two possibities: we will either be spared the long hair or we should brace ourselves for pictures of Jake in extensions.


The other film

Almost at the same time that Disney was announcing that it had its Prince, Columbia Pictures was telling Variety that it had chosen its lead for 2012, the forthcoming disaster pic by The Day After Tomorrow's Roland Emmerich. Fortunately, and that's putting it mildly, Jake's name is no longer associated with this and, instead, the leading man is another unusual choice - John Cusack. The other leading name in it is Chiwetel Ejiofor. (This actor always reminds me of when I was watching the BAFTA coverage back in 2006 and Jake was interviewed on the red carpet - he told the interviewer that he had given an award to Chiwetel and was proud of the time he had taken to make sure he pronounced it correctly, obviously well aware that some have not given him the same distinction.)


These choices, for 2012, Prince of Persia, Iron Man and The Dark Knight, may suggest that studios are looking for something a little different to entice savvy audiences into the theatres. In some cases, this may be desperation while, for others, it could be a fine move, and give familiar genres an unfamiliar twist. It's also interesting - at least to me - that both PoP and 2012 have fast turnarounds (if the strike holds off in the case of 2012) - both begin filming in July and have release dates exactly a year on.


Talking of familiar - here is the plot of 2012 from Hollywood Reporter and quoted here: 'Cusack is in talks to play divorced dad, writer and sometime limo driver Jackson Curtis, who goes on a heroic journey to save his family. [Chewetel] Ejiofor plays Adrian Helmsley, an idealistic science adviser to the president who also becomes a hero.'


Includes pictures from IHJ and Slashfilm.