Jake Gyllenhaal

27 Nov 2009 00:00:00 CDT

Sun, 29 Nov 2009

Rendition (Jake Gyllenhaal as Douglas Freeman )

10:30 AM ET | HBO Signature

Filming Prince of Persia Was "Really Fun" for Jake Gyllenhaal

BRENTJS SPRECHER — 15 Nov 2009 14:21:08 CDT

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.

ReelzChannel | Jake Gyllenhaal

Jake Gyllenhaal

Sun, 29 Nov 2009

Filming Prince of Persia Was "Really Fun" for Jake Gyllenhaal