[Update] Photos of Jake Gyllenhaal on the LAOD set! 'What's fun to play is not fun to watch' - turning a game into a movie

Update: Thanks to the Boring Pittsburgh site, we have pictures of a very young and very hot Jake Gyllenhaal on the Pittsburgh set of Love and Other Drugs today. They were on Baum Blvd and the scene involved Jake running to and fro from the electric goods shop set. Looking great, Jake - even from behind - now, where is Anne?



Prince of Persia creator Jordan Mechner has just delivered the keynote speech at the Games Development Conference (GDC) in Shanghai, China. His theme was the revival of a dead franchise - not just for gamers but also for moviegoers. Although a game creator, Jordan Mechner's dream has been to be a film maker and so he has been perfectly suited to adapt his game for the film medium, understanding that game and movie are two very different beasts, demanding different behaviour from players and audience. This is no straightforward adaptation; instead, Jordan has removed some much loved elements of the game because he realises that they won't work in front of a theatre audience who don't have the power to press pause or jump. 'What's fun to play is not fun to watch.'


'"There's no button on the controller for sit down with someone and have a nice conversation... The game story was just an excuse for getting the player to get from point A to point B and kill everybody he meets." It is not, in his words, "this epic, romantic action movie that [the film version of] Prince of Persia was setting out to be."' "The reason [Bruckheimer and Newell] wanted to make this movie, not because it was a video game, but because they liked the idea of doing a swashbuckling adventure movie."

What this does mean is no sand monsters, despite all the sand. No freezing of time - again despite all that sand. And no fast forward. The latter makes me happy as Jake can take all the time in the world, as far as I'm concerned. Jake Gyllenhaal is also a good alternative to sand monsters. I'm still hopeful for camels.


'The film project benefitted from Hollywood trends, says Mechner. "Movie genres follow cycles, just like game genres. The Arbian Nights genre hadn't been done at the A level in 40 years. It was a film genre that was ripe for renewal." This is much the same as the situation with Pirates of the Caribbean, another Bruckheimer project. "Somebody else would have made [an Arabian-themed film] that'd be coming out right about now."'


Jordan also sees a future for both movie and game, although not necessarily together: 'I don't think the movie and the game need to come back together into lockstep'. You can read more about Jordan Mechner's vision here.


During his speech, Jordan also showed the video that he'd made to show to Bruckheimer in 2003 and which ultimately paid off. We're very fortuntae in that Jordan has also posted it in his own blog.

Prince of Persia movie pitch trailer (2003) from jordan mechner on Vimeo.

This all follows on from the news that Jordan Mechner has recently trademarked the title Prince of Persia: The Forgotten Sands - could this also prove to be the second movie title? Time will tell. More here.


Many thanks to IHJ for the new old pics of Jake with Stephen in NYC in April 2006 - plus another stunning black and white shot. While it looks like Jake has spent the weekend in NYC, tomorrow is the day of the big shoot at the Mellon Arena in Pittsburgh. Here's hoping we get lots of reports - and pictures!