The Prince of Persia's occupation of Ouarzazate

While we wait - not particularly patiently - for Jake Gyllenhaal to return to us and make up for his absence by granting us an endless stream of photographs of him out and about wearing garments of our own choosing, there is a French report of how welcome the production of Prince of Persia has been to the local economy of Ouarzazate, Morocco. The film also boosted its population considerably and gave the town an air of 'globalisation' - the streets, cafes, bazaars, restaurants, hotels and shops were filled with Italian stuntmen, Spanish horsemen, British technicians, and one superhot American moviestar.


The report demonstrates that there was a strict hierarchy on set amongst the extras, as regards payment, with the stuntmen being on top. And it sounds like an army of them descended on the town, with almost 400 cars travelling from place to place all day long (I'm thinking big battle scenes here). But apparently, the extras have had to endure rough thunderstorms, especially in Ait Benhaddou. And, irrespective of whether one is the lowliest of extras or the biggest of stars, when a scene was shot showing the princess being driven in a horse and carriage, everyone was there for five in the morning and the days were long.


Other pieces of information include that the production took over 170 hotel rooms and one can only imagine how catering and accommodating this number of people boosted the local economy, not to mention the largescale employment of craftsmen and the tourist draw of having Jake Gyllenhaal in one's midst. I bet Jake never had to pay for a tangine...


While Jake remains elusive on the set, there are more pictures of Feisty Princess Gemma Arterton with the rather gorgeous Eduardo Munoz, riding around the set. Also, thanks to Gemma Arterton Online, we can see pictures of Gemma shopping in Morocco with her sister Hannah. It sounds like Gemma has her whole family with her; a newspaper article last week mentioned that her mother was also there. And while I'm talking about Gemma, Jake's co-star is featured on the cover of the Radio Times for next week as she stars in the flagship of Autumn BBC TV in Tess of the d'Urbervilles, which begins on Sunday.


Talking of adaptations, it has been announced today that Jim Sheridan is to team up with Relativity Media again to bring I, Claudius to the big screen. This news has attracted attention and it has also led to their last co-production, Brothers, being mentioned frequently today as a film to expect this December.


Includes pictures from Gemma Arterton Online and IHJ.