Prince of Persia - creating a swashbuckling 'A-level summer blockbuster' and not Resident Evil in sand...

There is a new Ubisoft trailer for the forthcoming Prince of Persia 'next generation' game and, even though not directly related to the Prince of Persia movie, it's difficult to disassociate the two entirely. While the film may be based on the storyline of the the first game, it's tempting to think that some of the spirit of the new game, with its outrageous parkour, the equal(ish) relationship between the Prince and his heroine, and the costumes, may influence the film we finally get to see in 2010.


So take a look at this seven minutes of gametime and imagine Jake Gyllenhaal leaping from chasm to chasm, from cliff face to cliff face, while beset with shadows and countless ways to meet a terrible fate.



I did chuckle when I saw at Rotten Tomatoes that PoP director Mike Newell has his assistant playing the original Sands of Time video game in order to keep him on the right track. Nevertheless, Mike was extremely excited about making a film that was not just another video game movie: 'It's not a video game movie... It's a great story. If you had read the script, you would know that it wasn't a video game. It's very exciting and it's immensely romantic and it's like Lost Horizon. It takes you to somewhere you've never been.' I'll put the Stonehenge comment down to enthusiasm.


In the early days of the film's story, when it was all still off the radar of Gyllenhaalics, PoP creator Jordan Mechner enthused: 'Rather than do a straight beat-for-beat adaptation of the new videogame, we're taking some cool elements from the game and using them to craft a new story - much as 'Pirates' did with the theme park ride.'


Executive producer John August compared the Prince to Indiana Jones. I'm sensing they're suggesting shelflife and sequels, not to mention whips and snakes, sand and seas. The fact that they're imagining a 'very reckless and exciting life' for our Prince is all for the good.


Jerry Bruckheimer has played the game for himself: 'I've played the game ... it's a great game ... and I believe the movie is one people will want to go see.' After doing the deal with Bruckheimer back in 2004, Mechner set about turning the game into a big movie: 'If I'd tried to adapt the game's storyline beat for beat into a screenplay, we would have wound up with a 'B'-level survival-horror movie about a warrior prince who spends most of his time fighting off ravaging, zombie-like sand creatures -- basically, Resident Evil in the desert... You might make a good movie from that, but it definitely wouldn't be a Disney-Bruckheimer 'A'-level summer blockbuster.'


Mechner focused on turning the game into 'an epic, swashbuckling, action-adventure movie in the tradition of Raiders of the Lost Ark, The Mask of Zorro, and Pirates of the Caribbean.' I always wanted to see Jake in a Raiders movie, maybe PoP will be the happy alternative.


A fan of Bruckheimer's Pirates movies, Mechner says 'The truth is I've always dreamed of Prince of Persia becoming a movie. The original 1989 game was inspired by action-adventure movies like Raiders of the Lost Ark, and those great old Douglas Fairbanks and Errol Flynn swashbucklers of the the '20s and '30s like Thief of Baghdad and Robin Hood.' But the movie has to be able to stand apart from the video game: 'My goal in writing the POP screenplay was not to copy the Sands of Time videogame storyline beat for beat, but rather to craft a new story that would live up to the genre of those classic swashbuckling, romantic action-adventure movies that inspired the games in the first place. Whether or not you've played the videogame, the movie needs to stand on its own.'


So will we, as a result of the movie, get the chance to play the game of the movie of the game, with a 'virtual' Jake and Gemma? Possibly not - instead the movie may spawn further movies: 'When asked what impact the new movie would have on Ubisoft's Prince game franchise, [Ubisoft CEO Yves] Guillemot replied, "I don't know yet. The collaboration is not built into the deal (because Disney licensed the property from Jordan Mechner, who owns the Prince IP). The impact it will likely have is to enhance the awareness of the Prince and his environment for a larger public." ...'Disney hopes Bruckheimer can work his Pirates of the Caribbean magic with this game franchise, although unlike that film, which had two sequels penned after the original's surprise box office bounty, Prince has been designed as a trilogy from the get-go.'


Includes pictures from IHJ and Getty.