Breaking News: Jake Gyllenhaal is Not Persian
The Facts: The Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time, directed by Mike Newell and produced by Jerry Bruckheimer, is set to be released by Disney on May 28, 2010. The film stars Jake Gyllenhaal as Prince Dastan, Gemma Arterton, Ben Kingsley and Alfred Molina. The movie is based on the popular video game series released by Ubisoft. The first movie sees Prince Dastan teaming up with a princess to save his kingdom using a dagger that allows him to move through time.
Hollywood Needs Better Casting
This isn’t the old days when David Carradine could pass as a Chinese kung fu master. And while it’s not necessarily news, it comes as a surprise to me that the producers of the Prince of Persia movie would choose an American actor to play an ethnic role. Jake Gyllenhaal, although a great actor in his own right, should not have been selected. Hasn’t anyone learned anything from the recent Dragonball movie flop? GMR recently did some research to confirm that Jake Gyllenhaal is indeed white.
No Need for High Profile Actors
There is no doubt in my mind that the movie will go on to become a huge box office success thanks to Hollywood marketing, but that’s more so because of the great concept of the film versus the actors chosen. We’ve seen how Paranormal Activity and Transformers II performed so well in theaters without any real star power – the fresh concepts won out. Someone in Hollywood should be willing to take the risk on an unknown Persian actor for the sake of authenticity if nothing else.
Would you appreciate Hollywood taking a risk in an unknown actor and aiming for a more authentic film?
