Prince of Persia filming to begin on 28 July - Brokeback: a new classic

There's good news and there's bad news... The good news is that the filming of Prince of Persia has a start date - 28 July in Morocco - the bad news is that the possibility of a screen actors' strike may postpone it. However, such a date, a little later than expected, may have been set with the prospect of a short strike in mind.


This is what the LA Times are reporting today: 'More than 1,800 people, both in the U.S. and abroad, are lined up to work on Disney's nearly $200-million-budget "Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time," a video-game-based tale starring Jake Gyllenhaal that's set to begin production in Morocco on July 28. "Of course, we're concerned," said the film's producer, Jerry Bruckheimer. "We'd have to shut it down and everybody goes home. . . . But I can't believe either side wants a strike." Bruckheimer said if the production was delayed, the crew nonetheless would continue working on visual effects, editing, set building and other areas not requiring actors. Moreover, if halting production pushes the eventual start date of "Prince of Persia" too far into the future, the film would risk missing its planned release date next summer.'


It looks like the Prince of Persia will be employing an army of people, all with Jake and director Mike Newell at its front. Quite a prospect and a world away from Nailed.

Talking of which, a poster on IMDb has claimed that Nailed is now mostly in the can - I hesitate to use the word 'safely' - and the filming is over. The restaurant scene, the last to be filmed, is to be polished in an LA studio.


Brokeback Mountain - a new classic

Entertainment Weekly has been refining its top movie lists, celebrating the new movie classics from the last 25 years. Brokeback Mountain is placed at No. 31: 'The cool move here would be to ignore the fact that Heath Ledger and Jake Gyllenhaal enacted a truly groundbreaking love story — and simply concentrate on what a gorgeous, nuanced, heartbreaking movie Brokeback is for people of any sexual orientation. But Ang Lee's undeniably romantic movie did break ground. It reached, and moved, mainstream audiences in ways that no ''gay'' movie ever had before.'


Brokeback also contains one of EW's new classic romantic gestures: 'Heath Ledger finds and keeps the shirts Jake Gyllenhaal had saved from their first trip to Brokeback Mountain (2005).' There are some other very memorable moments on this list.


The Brokeback Mountain poster, with its intentional homage to the Titanic poster, is also regarded as one of the perfect film posters. Brokeback is placed at No 7, with Sam Mendes' American Beauty at No. 3 and Almost Famous at No. 1. Titanic's poster doesn't make the list.


Includes pictures from IHJ, here and EW.