Updated with a PoP set visit - 'I got to kiss Jake today' - new interviews, pictures and clips as the Incredible Prince of Persia Adventure begins...

Tomorrow (Friday) is a big day - A WDW Outing to see Prince of Persia at the multimedia screening in Leicester Square, thanks to Disney UK, kicks off what promises to be a terrific weekend! As you can imagine, posting won't be following the normal regular schedule for the next few days and so posts could pop up at any time. Also during the coming days, if you should see someone in her Red Sox cap, by red carpets, in theatres, in the streets of London, don't forget to say hello! And stay tuned for what should be an Incredible Prince of Persia Adventure...


On with the post!

You can always tell when you're in Blighty, someone goes and shoves a pickled onion down your throat. Yes, last night Jake Gyllenhaal filmed Late Night with Jonathan Ross (to be shown Friday) and in no time at all, he was being entered into that time honoured Brit tradition of a pickled egg eating competition. Next time, Jake'll be eating a hard boiled egg out of a bag of salt 'n' vinegar crisps before having a game of Aunt Sally in the carpark. Jake's pickled onion foe was Adam Lambert fan Leigh Baby, who has written all about it here - including Jake's efforts to win by distracting her through hugs and kisses. I'd like to say this wouldn't have put me off but I won't.


We have until tomorrow night to see the interview itself in the UK, and another week before it airs in the US. Hopefully, an online version may pop up in the meantime.


Jake's continues to do his bit to bring sparkle and excitement to Mayfair, with another appearance at Claridges, on his return from what seems to have been a very successful press junket.


Friends at HeyUGuys attended the junket today and posted some extremely cool pictures of the display of Prince of Persia costumes - and they even got a hold of the Dagger, but the jewel at the top was left untouched and time did not miss a beat. You can see their pictures here and the interviews will be posted there in the coming days.


Talking of sands of time, we have a third proper clip from the film and, in it, Dastan has a race on his hands.



Among the other little bits of information that have filtered their way through today is a feature from the BBC. Jake sounds like he's ready to take on any number of PoP sequels: 'I think about kids saying 'you're the Prince of Persia!' That I wouldn't mind being locked into'. 'Gyllenhaal, who shot to fame in indie hit Donnie Darko, said he wants to be taken "a little less seriously" as an actor. "I wanted to fulfil the dreams of those movies I loved watching, like Robin Hood with Errol Flynn," he added of his new swashbuckling role. "Who knows in two or three years time what other weird thing I'll do?" said the star.'


'Mike Newell, who directed Prince of Persia, admitted that he was initially unsure about Gyllenhaal in the role of an action hero. But the UK film-maker added that the actor "worked his arse off" to make it work, including intensive physical training and cultivating a British accent. "He was wonderful and absolutely took it on,".'


Gemma Arterton has been speaking to the Metro about her chemistry with Jake: 'The main bit of our relationship on screen is that we had this to-ing fro-ing of wit and we kind of had that on set. I’d take the mickey out of him and he’d take the mickey out of me but I like it like that, it’s more fun.'


Gemma is also featured in the current edition of Reveal in the UK and she has something to say about what it was like to kiss Jake Gyllenhaal and if it was awkward: 'When you work with someone for six months and you see them all day every day, in a way you get over things like that. Then when I watched him in the film, I was like: 'Oh my God, he looks absolutely incredible'... I was so blinded when I was doing this film. I remember the day I had to kiss him and I was like 'Oh yeah, I got to kiss Jake today'. Then watching the movie, when we actually kissed, I was like: 'Oh my God, I kissed Jake!' I got really giddy'.



Updated to add an interesting behind the scenes set visit from Timesonline published this evening. Apart from suggesting that Jake's hair was a little wayward during filming, and that if you want desert winds blowing on the tent special effects you can do much worse than using a bunch of helpful hands, we hear this from Jake: '“This was so unlikely to do that I had to do it,” Gyllenhaal smiles, before admitting that “running around and have sword fights is what I always dreamt of doing”. On top of the standard swashbuckling skills, Dastan is something of an extreme sports nut, climbing, abseiling and using free running techniques to run up walls and leap across rooftops. Gyllenhaal had to undergo “six months of really functional training” including tutelage from the French parkour pioneer David Belle. It left him with muscles that bulge beneath his sand-blasted robes. After performing a 30ft leap from Alamut’s city gate — created on Pinewood’s immense 007 stage in glorious fibreglass — he has earned the respect of the stuntmen who slouch around the set in period tunics.'

Includes pictures from NirvanaDC, Just Jared, Disney via IHJ and scans from WDW.