Jake Gyllenhaal on Prince of Persia: 'This is the beginning of us all!' (Empire May Edition - fabulous)

It's Empire Day! The May edition has just arrived in my letter box, sandwiched between yet another pizza delivery flyer and my Sherlock Holmes DVD. Robert Downey Jr has had to wait, however, because there in technicolour print is a six-page feature on our favourite Prince 'You can call me Jake' Dastan. And there are new pictures of Jake Gyllenhaal and Gemma Arterton along with the assurance that while Jake has stuntmen doubles (you can see one of them in one of these pictures holding Jake up), the parkour is all Jake.


You can embiggen these pages with a click to read it all for yourself and it's full of treats and not a little humour, plus some more info about Mike Newell - even Jerry Bruckheimer, it is revealed, speaks of his director in hushed tones.


Jake, we learn, is 'entirely comfortable as a rope-swinging swashbuckler' and is adept at exploding flaming oil on enemy troops. Mike Newell also reveals Prince of Persia's secret weapon: 'It actually has a broader appeal than you would expect... Jake. All the girls like Jake.' This is indeed as true as night following day, as 2+2 equalling 4 and artichokes being inedible. Mike goes on about Jake and Gemma: 'You have a kind of traditional star power from these two people who weren't stars when the movie started. With both of these guys we took considerable risks. There is a lot of money riding on their heads. And the audience likes them, which is great. It means I did my job.'


Jake and Gemma's characters get cosy in tents one imagines: 'The relationship's destiny is, naturally, a foregone, smoochy conclusion, but there's chemistry here. And comedy.' In Jake's words: 'Comedy is really what I enjoy the most... And it's what I find hardest. earnest is fucking easy. Finding the comedy in a situation is always the hardest thing, and I think as an actor you should try and find the hardest thing.'


'We have this kind of banter anyway, as Jake and Gemma... So that kind of transfers to the characters. There's a lot of witty remarks, cutting each other down...' Says Gemma. 'And also, when we need to be romantic...'


As for the 'Is it really Persia?' thing (it does, after all, say a lot more about video games than it does about history and geography), Gemma says: 'But it's completely detached from reality. It's a completely fictional world.' And Jake: 'It's not necessarily one culture... I think that's what so wonderful about it. That's actually what Mike said to me from the very beginning: this is all different cultures. This is the beginning of us all!'


Interestingly, the feature says that Prince of Persia: Sands of Time must have a sequel because it has a colon in the title. This is even more reliable than having 1 or I in the title.


Meanwhile back in the real world of moviemaking in Montreal, Jake was seen out about in the city on Saturday (narrowly avoiding BBMISwear and Ted who spent the weekend in Montreal wine tasting) with Atticus. You'll note there's no Atticus in the picture below...


... this is because Atti is taking a comfort break in order to let Jake have a little time to himself to whistle and pace for the cameras. Here's a different view.


Pictures from Empire and iPhotoLive; scans by WDW.