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Sunday, November 15
In a recent interview with Coming Soon, actor Jake Gyllenhaal discussed the extensive training required to play the role of Prince Dastan in Disney's big-screen spectacle, Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time. Though Gyllenhaal said that the training was "40 days and 40 nights of misery," he admitted to having a great time doing it.
The best part of the movie I think is ... God, I mean, you play like this when you're a kid. This is how you play when you're a kid, and you go outside and I remember specifically many times I would go outside and be like, "I play him and you play him and let's fight!" And we're just like doing that every day. So the best part of it for me is because I've never done a lot of fighting — sword fighting, hand-on-hand, any type of combat that there is and any type of evasion and persuasion. More than that also I find really fun is being able to get humor and performance in the middle of it all, which I find so difficult. I have utter respect for people who can put that kind of thing, a performance or any type of feeling while you're battling someone, because that's like chewing gum and walking at the same time and that's really tough for actors.
Of course, not all of Gyllenhaal's preparation for the role was grueling. Gyllenhaal admitted to gaining insight into his character by playing video games.
I feel a responsibility because I think the prince in the video games, he has a personality and you know his story, but I think a lot of video games as an actor, just putting that kind of expression onto a character. You get to make a new path for what the character is as opposed to being nervous you're going to screw up that's already there. That to me I like and I think is fun ... I've played the game a lot more when I was really young, and I know the game in its Atari-like version. I went online when I first started researching stuff for the role. What was really important was for me personally to bring some sort of realism into this world that is not always fully based on reality. So often you can hide in all that stuff so easily, and to look at what say a real Persian prince would look like and then who the Prince of Persia is in the video game and then a whole slew of inspiration in between there.
Next Showing: Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time opens May 28, 2010
Posted 11/15/2009 by BrentJS
Related: Jake Gyllenhaal | Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time
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Thursday, November 12
British actress Gemma Arterton has become the "it" girl of action movies recently. First, she starred alongside Daniel Craig as Strawberry Fields in Quantum of Solace, then she landed the role of Sam Worthington's love interest in Clash of the Titans, and soon she will be appearing as Princess Tamina opposite Jake Gyllenhaal's Prince Dastan in Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time.
In a recent interview with Coming Soon, Arterton discussed how working on such high-profile projects is changing her life.
I'm really starting to feel it. Things have changed very quickly. Usually, I can kind of get on with my work and not think about it but it's actually having an effect on my life now and that's fine. I just have to kind of get used to it I suppose but it has been really, really quick and hey, why not, you know? If it's gonna happen, it's gonna happen and just deal with it, but yeah, it's mad what's happened. In a year, I think I've done eight films or something. I don't know how I've done it. I don't know how I have the energy but I do somehow.
Like Gyllenhaal, who trained extensively for the movie, from weight trainging and sword fighting to learning Parkour, Arterton had to pick up a new set of skills to play Princess Tamina.
I had to learn how to horse ride 'cause I'd never done it before in my life, and it's kind of become a real new sort of passion for me. Pretty much the whole cast went to Spain and learned to horse ride for two weeks, which was incredible to have that opportunity and then we all kind of continued it. Then I have to do loads of fighting but there isn't a particular style to my fighting. It's quite wild 'cause she's never really been trained to fight so it's just kind of go "aaaagh" like that, but just doing it with some sort of skill. Where I went to drama school I trained in stage combat quite heavily so I had quite a bit of experience before.
Arterton said that she relishes the action and perhaps she "should have really been a stuntwoman."
I really enjoy it even though sometimes you think, "Oh, God, there are actually people that are trained to do this and they're trained to get battered and bruised," but I've loved doing all of that and the fighting. It's gobsmacking the sets and the costume and the sheer scale of this film and then you're kind of put into into this completely different world and that is really, really fantastic. You don't have to really imagine much 'cause it's there designed right in front of you, and so that's been brilliant as well.
Next Showing: Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time opens May 28, 2010
Posted 11/12/2009 by BrentJS
Related: Daniel Craig | Jake Gyllenhaal | Sam Worthington | Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time | Clash of the Titans | Gemma Arterton
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Wednesday, November 11
Actor Jake Gyllenhaal made a name for himself playing quiet, introspective characters in movies like Donnie Darko and Brokeback Mountain, for which he was nominated for an Academy Award. But when the opportunity arose to star as Prince Dastan in Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time, Disney's live-action adaptation of the Ubisoft video game, Gyllenhaal told Coming Soon that he was attracted to the role because it was "unlike anything" he had appeared in before.
To play Prince Dastan, Gyllenhaal had to adopt an English accent, weight train extensively, and learn Parkour, the urban "free running" sport prominently featured in Casino Royale.
The development of the character was massively physical at first, just getting in shape and doing all that stuff and learning Parkour, learning how to swordfight, learning how to get into the mentality of a warrior, somebody who as written is someone who can really fight. That was a big part of it for me, and I knew that if I got through that, then I knew I'd be halfway there.
Really, it's basically just a lot of training, working out with a lot of running and all different kinds of sports. I'm someone who really doesn't love to be inside so just being outside and running around and training as if I was going to battle, but it also happens to be based on a video game so he has to very agile in a lot of other ways then you would normally ... it's not just gladiator-style fighting although we have all of that. It's also having to be able to jump up walls and climb up walls and run on walls and all of those things.
Gyllenhaal also said that it was going to take a "different mentality" to go back to making smaller movies after filming Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time.
... there's [a] type of high when you make a movie like this, a type of excitement every day that is infectious. There are days that you get tired and some of the people I work with say to me, I'm like, "Man, I'm going to be exhausted. I'm going to need rest when I get done with this movie," and they're like, "You're going to rest for two weeks and you're going to want to make another one like it." And it's kind of true. On my days off, I worked out twice on my Sunday off, because that's where my head is. I'm prepared for whatever comes our way.
Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time is produced by Jerry Bruckheimer, directed by Mike Newell, and also stars Gemma Arterton, Sir Ben Kingsley, and Alfred Molina.
Next Showing: Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time opens May 28, 2010
Posted 11/11/2009 by BrentJS
Related: Jake Gyllenhaal | Brokeback Mountain | Donnie Darko | Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time
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Tuesday, November 3
The trailer for Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time has arrived online, courtesy of IGN. The adaptation of Ubisoft's video game stars Jake Gyllenhaal, Gemma Arterton, and Sir Ben Kingsley.
Set in sixth century Persia, The Sands of Time follows Prince Dastan (Gyllenhaal) as he joins forces with Princess Tamina (Arterton) to stop the evil Nizam (Kingsley) from using the Sands of Time to unleash a sandstorm that could destroy the entire world.
Watch the trailer below:
The Sands of Time is directed by Mike Newell and opens May 28, 2010.
Posted 11/3/2009 by Ryan
Related: Jake Gyllenhaal | Mike Newell | Ben Kingsley | Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time | Gemma Arterton
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Thursday, September 3
Next summer can be summed up simply: Sequels, remakes, comic book adaptations, and 3-D. Wait a minute, that's how we summed up Summer 2009! And Summer 2008, too (well, except the 3-D part).
While there might not be a whole lot new in the mix, here are the 20 titles we'll be talking about next summer.
Posted 9/3/2009 by reelz
Related: Wichita | Toy Story 3 | Jonah Hex | Shrek 4 | Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time | Iron Man 2 | Robin Hood | The Twilight Saga: Eclipse | Expendables | Kung Fu Kid | Sex and the City 2 | Little Fockers | Dinner for Schmucks | Inception | Despicable Me | The Last Airbender | Salt | The Other Guys | Grown Ups | The A-Team
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Monday, July 27
Having failed to make a big push for its latest (potential) franchise at San Diego Comic-Con, Walt Disney is trying to create some buzz for Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time by releasing new stills from the movie.
Two of the stills feature ripped-up Jake Gyllenhaal and smoking-hot Gemma Arterton in action as Prince Dastan and Princess Tamina, respectively, while the other shot shows producer Jerry Bruckheimer behind the scenes on the set.
Based on Ubisoft's popular line of video games, Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time is set in sixth century Persia and tells the story of how Prince Dastan and Princess Tamina must work together to stop the evil Nizam (played by Sir Ben Kingsley) from using the mysterious "Sands of Time" to destroy the world.
Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time is being directed by Mike Newell and also stars Toby Kebbell, Alfred Molina, Reece Ritchie, Richard Coyle and Steve Toussaint.
Posted 7/27/2009 by BrentJS
Related: Jake Gyllenhaal | Jerry Bruckheimer | Mike Newell | Ben Kingsley | Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time | Gemma Arterton
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Tuesday, July 21
Walt Disney's latest action-adventure flick, Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time, seems to be gaining some momentum. Only days ago, the first official still from the movie, showing star Jake Gyllenhaal in action as Prince Dastan, was released and now Disney has debuted two posters for the Jerry Bruckheimer-produced video game adaptation.
Based on Ubisoft's long line of popular video games, Prince of Persia is a fantasy epic about a sixth-century prince and princess who team up to stop an evil vizier from using the "Sands of Time" to rule the world. Like Pirates of the Caribbearn, Disney has plans to make Prince of Persia into a tentpole franchise.
Directed by Mike Newell of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire fame, Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time also stars Gemma Arterton, Ben Kingsley, Toby Kebbell, Alfred Molina, Reece Ritchie, Richard Coyle, and Steve Toussaint.
Posted 7/21/2009 by BrentJS
Related: Jake Gyllenhaal | Jerry Bruckheimer | Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time | Gemma Arterton
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Saturday, July 18
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.'"
Next Showing: Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time opens May 28, 2010
Posted 7/18/2009 by BrentJS
Related: Jake Gyllenhaal | Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time
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Wednesday, July 15
In an appearance on the CBS Early Show Tuesday morning, prolific Hollywood producer Jerry Bruckheimer announced that there will be a fourth Pirates of the Caribbean movie and that Johnny Depp will once again star as Captain Jack Sparrow.
Bruckheimer was on the show to promote his upcoming 3-D animated feature G-Force, which involves government-trained guinea pigs. We mean that quite literally, by the way. The movie features the voices of Nicolas Cage, Penelope Cruz, Jon Favreau, Steve Buscemi, Sam Rockwell, and Tracy Morgan.
The 63-year-old producer was then asked about his other projects, at which point he mentioned Depp and the new Pirates movie. He also spoke a bit about his work on Disney's upcoming The Sorcerer's Apprentice and the movie adaptation of the video game series Prince of Persia.
Posted 7/15/2009 by Rich Z
Related: Jerry Bruckheimer | Johnny Depp | Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time
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Wednesday, January 28
Movie producer Jerry Bruckheimer is playing games with his audiences -- betting that he can get chick flick fans to go on a movie poster treasure hunt.
Bruckheimer's plan is to place images of his coming big-screen projects, easter egg style, within his February 13th romantic comedy Confessions of a Shopaholic. Included in the fun is video game adaptation Prince of Persia starring Jake Gyllenhaal.
MTV reports that this will be the first time that Gyllenhaal will be seen in full-costume as Prince Dastan. The question is, will anybody in the theater care? While the featured flick is a fanboy favorite, how many gamers are also hot for chick flicks?
There is, of course, the possibility they're on a date.
Posted 1/28/2009 by Jim
Related: Jake Gyllenhaal | Jerry Bruckheimer | Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time | Confessions of a Shopaholic | G-Force