Jake Gyllenhaal and the Prince of Persia cast was making the rounds at WonderCon, hoping they would break a Hollywood curse: bad video game movies.
Street Fighter, Double Dragon and Super Mario are video game movies that I would like to forget. What makes these movies so bad are the stories. What works in a video game doesn’t usually translate well into the big screen. Look at Street Fighter for example. It’s fun when you are playing with your friends and throwing fireballs at each other at the arcade. When it’s translated to a movie, you have characters that are shallow and a plot that doesn’t make sense. Prince of Persia should have no problem overcoming this obstacle. Jordan Mechner, the creator of the game, said “I love sword fights in movies and that was the idea behind the game.” Mechner said he was watching Pirates of the Caribbean at a movie theater and thought of making a movie from his beloved game, “My friends and I were discussing how cool Pirates was. The design was similar to Prince of Persia.”
Jerry Bruckheimer, the producer of the Pirates trilogy (not the porn), got the pitch and he accepted it. For Bruckheimer, he saw it as a challenge to recreate the video game environment, “Jordan created a world that was made for movies. Big buildings, great costumes and a cross between fantasy and reality.” Bruckheimer was asked about making it into a franchise and he commented, “I have zero inclination of making it into a franchise. What I look for in a movie are compelling characters and great themes. If the audiences embraces and you get lucky, then you think of making another one.”
From left to right: Director Mike Newell, Jake Gyllenhaal, creator Jordan Mechner and producer Jerry Bruckheimer
Jake Gyllenhaal will play the title role and said it was a unique experience, “It was great fun, especially with the big sets and jumping around from one to the next. I did parkour (freerunning) training, horseback riding. On one take, I was about an inch away from getting hit with an axe. Once I looked at the scene, I said “WOW, that looks so good!” This is my first real action role.” Gyllenhaal also discussed going head to head with Ben Kingsley, “He’s been knighted in England and I called him Sir Ben. He gets really competitive with the sword fight. It was great working with him.”
Directing the movie is Mike Newell (Donnie Brasco, Harry Potter And The Goblet Of Fire). Newell was picked by Bruckheimer because he has proven he can create a universe with Mechner’s vision: fusion between reality and fantasy. Newell explained his approach to the project, “We had to balance between the video game aspect and emotions that the audience can connect to. It all began with the script. We also did a lot of research on Persia and hopefully we made it authentic enough.” Asked if Newell was a gamer, he jokingly answered, “Not at all, can’t you see that’s after my generation. It’s too confusing for me.”
We’ll find out if Prince of Persia breaks the video game curse when it hits theaters May 28th, 2010.
You can read our screening reaction of the movie at Showest here.
Check out the trailer below:
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