When you're an actor who's no longer interested in Oscar nominations or MTV Movie Awards, what do you do? Well, if you're Jake Gyllenhaal, that's when you pick up a sword and start fighting evil viziers in the desert.
Gyllenhaal is no stranger to genre pictures, having acted in sci-fi (Donnie Darko) and disaster (The Day After Tomorrow) films in the past. But after his Academy Award-nominated performance in Brokeback Mountain, he gravitated toward more dramatic performances. In Persia, Gyllenhaal gets to stretch his legs a little, both literally and creatively. He recently told Entertainment Weekly, "I'm tired of taking myself so seriously."
Gyllenhaal trained vigorously for the role of Prince Dastan — the title character in the long line of Prince of Persia video games that the film is based on — even performing many of his own stunts. He said, "It's nice when a stuntman turns to you and is like, 'Actors don't normally do this.'"