Persian people have pretty fair skin so a white guy could easily pass as a Persian. If this is ethically or morally correct is beyond me, but it is not as dumb as Johny Wayne playing Genghis Khan or James Bond disguising himself as some random Asian dude.

lilsamuraijoe

@pluckylump: I strongly disagree. Warrior Within may have had upgraded game mechanics, but the entire feel of the game was just so trite and generic that it didn't feel at all like it fit in with the first game. "Oh noes, the prince is dark and brooding! Go-go gadget generic anti-hero!"

wiregr

This just in: the movie will be filmed in Maine.

hagridore

I gotta say, at first glance (and second, for that matter), Jake Gyllenhaal seems like a poor choice to play the Prince. He's a good enough actor, but last time I checked, he's not Persian.

I can't help but feel that the studio might have had a hand in this. Afraid that having a person of Middle Eastern descent as the star would negatively impact revenue, or something like that.

kylenalepa

I feel sorry for Jordan. Ubisoft just shitting all over his game.

NoBullet

@KeroseneClimax: Robery Downy Jr in Tropic Thunder begs to differ

Len Bias Cocaine Surplus

Well I don't think I really had any expectations that he would come out and say the movie was going to suck.

Len Bias Cocaine Surplus

It might have been better if they had cast someone of Persian decent, but really in a movie full of magic and time-manipulation is that really what is going to strain your credulity. Also Arabia is a specific place, it is not the same thing as Persia(Iraqis would probably be a closer ethnic match but after this much time who's to say).

crim

I'd bet Jordan Mechner is walking on air nowadays. I think it's awesome for him, too. Karateka and Prince of Persia were among my favorite games for the Apple 2 back in the day. I wonder if he had any idea back in the 80s that it would come to this.

Very cool.

DangrMaus

@resvrgam: Cruise wasn't playing the titled character in "The Last Samurai" though...that was Ken Watanabe. Cruise was playing an American who was a witness to Watanabe's character Katsumoto who was based on Saigo Takamori (but not called Takamori because the Japanese would've been severely pissed had Hollywood stepped all over the REAL "Last Samurai's" legacy).

Nevertheless Paul Mooney is still funny as hell, just off-base with this joke.

Nothing beats Charlton Heston playing a Mexican in Touch of Evil though.

Meohfumado

Jake Gyllenhaal looks like Obama in that picture

Orionsaint

@hotdamn: This isn't the turn of the century. This isn't the era of black face. Hollywood needs to stop the bullshit and hire somebody of the proper ethnic group when it calls for it. Once Upon A Time In Mexico, Scarface, Carlito's Way, Akira (upcoming film), Evangelion (upcoming film), White Chicks, The Godfather Part III; all films that had/have actors playing characters of a different nationality. Some worked, some not so much.

The point is that there are plenty of opportunities to give parts to actors/actresses who fit the ethnicity of the character they're portraying, but aren't being given the damn roles. Sure, there are many reasons why people don't get specific roles, and sometimes a role is racially neutral, but c'mon, The Prince of Persia? Give me a break. I think it's time for Hollywood to open the door for some new guys who fit roles, then veteran actors who don't.

KeroseneClimax

Did anyone tell the director that Jake is white and not arabic?

taftsearlobe33

@ApertureScienceIntern: You have now.

Silent Predator

Gay. I should've been casted as the prince, gimme green/blue eyes and bam. Stupid Jake Gyllenhaal. :(

Fadakar

@MasterYong: /obligatory

No, I disagree.

That Lamer

@MasterYong: @pluckylump: seconded. i thought WW was veeeeery well done. I actually haven't met one person who diddn't like that game.

ApertureScienceIntern

Warrior Within is the best of the three games. It has the est platforming, a really good combat system, and the story and music were not has completely horrible as all the advertising for the game tried to make us believe. The climax of the game was pretty emotionally charged and touched on some really interesting ideas. The sections where you had to outrun the Dahaka blows away any of the platforming in the other two.

That's not to say it's perfect. There were some major bugs in the game, but the positives in the game greatly outweighed these bugs that probably should have been inexcusable.

pluckylump

*vague

MasterYong

@ApertureScienceIntern: Ridiculous??? THIS IS SPARTA!!!

/obligatory

...I don't really get his vaguw comment about PoP:WW, tho- I thought that was the best since the original that I had when I was 5 on my 286...

MasterYong

Good to see Ben Kingsley wasn't scared away from video game themes after BloodRayne.

At least I *think* it's good...?

Also I expect Jordan is "delighted" he'll soon be seeing some fat royalty cheques.

Brackynews

It is awesome to load up Kotaku and have that image looking back at me. A++

Spike

It sounds like because it's his franchise he refuses to say anything bad about it. Warrior Within was horrible, but he still refrains from criticizing it.

Silent Predator

No he doesn't look Arabic... but that doesn't matter... cause he doesn't look Persian either...

People, Persians and Arabs are not the same...

Paganmoon

Yeah give Jake a tan and dark short hair and he'd be good to go! :{

nerdBOY01

I think Paul Mooney commenting about Tom Cruise as "The Last Samurai" pretty much sums up how I feel about casting some white bloke as a Prince of Persia.

resvrgam

If Jake, didn't get the role... Will Smith probably would've.

nerdBOY01

A white guy playing another ethnic group in a movie, what else is new. Look at 21 a movie about asian card sharks played by white people.

snakepliskin

@ApertureScienceIntern: ever heard of make up?

hotdamn

I'm sure they can make him look arabic just like they made him look gay.

splin

LOL this just occured to me.....They might do the same thing with Gyllenhaal like they did with Downey Jr in Tropic Thunder -.-

ApertureScienceIntern

Delighted? Delighted that a white man is portraying a Persian? This is ridiculous.

ApertureScienceIntern

Jake Gyllenhaal? You gotta be kidding me!! He doesn't even look arabic. Plus he'll prob try to kiss some guy in the movie. GAH!

Jwb0711

@wiregr: Hear, hear. It had none of the magic of the first game and the music was absolutely wretched.

@lilsamuraijoe: True enough; the several Persians I know are all rather fair, if also a little on the green-tinged side. However, I don't think that Jake Gyllenhaal has the facial structure to pull off the Indo-Iranian/Central Asian look.

Of course, I'm still disappointed that they didn't go with the actual Persian prince, damn their iniquitous souls to Angra Mainyu.

Bakeroo

I simply think that the Prince of Persia- being essentially a no-name stock fantasy protagonist- needs to be played by a nobody for gamers to approve.

I love Jake Gyllenhaal (and am in love with his sister), but putting a known name on a role like the Prince just feels wrong. There's no better way to put it. The Prince character has always been a vessel for the player to embody and associate themselves with. Jake Gyllenhaal in the role suddenly makes the whole persona of the "character" change. Suddenly he's iconic, a sex symbol, with his own, previously established persona that's (unavoidably) going to get mingled in with the portrayal of the Prince which will inherently change the character.

To oversimplify: He's not you anymore. He's not me. No gamer is going to be happy with any star that gets put in a role like that because the core appeal of such a character is that he could be you. Once he's somebody you recognize outside of that fiction that game character connection is broken. The only way to retain that element of the basic appeal of the IP is to go with a nobody.

(This is a big reason as to why Star Wars was such a success, despite all presumptions that it was going to be a disaster at the box office)

stranger

@Len Bias Cocaine Surplus: I didn't mention that film because it an obviously intensional parody of the situation being mentioned, but I get the joke you're trying to tell.

KeroseneClimax

Lot of gay bashers here. Thank god we have a new wielder of the ban hammer.

Thorax

@ApertureScienceIntern: Yeah, I have to disagree. I didn't like it at all. I thought the story was very weak at the end. And the mood, meh. It was OK, and I think that mechanically it worked well enough, but it didn't serve the story very well at all. Had it been the same game and just not been called Prince of Persia I think it would have done better, but it was a major disappointment to me given how Sands of Time set things up.

wild homes loves you but chooses darkness!

Persians are NOT arabs

baccardi84

@Thorax:

Thank you. I was just about to say something myself.

To those for whom Jake Gyllenhaal and Brokeback Mountain have become inextricably linked: it was one fucking movie (a brilliant movie for which his performance won him great critical acclaim, I might add). You might as well fret about the Prince of Persia palling around with giant demon bunnies, given Gyllenhaal's turn in Donnie Darko.

Cam_Ras

Shawn Reaves could have been a better choice as he somewhat reseblmes the prince, and his cocky act in Tru Calling suits the way the character of the prince is presented to us in the games.

_Hayko

dude .. im arab and i dont look arab ...

hell there are black people that dont look black

and asians that dont look asian

its kinda like .. imagining your wii mote being a sword ... its not a sword ... u just go with the flow and accept it for what it is ... dont think about it .. dont judge it ... there will be time for that after the movie is released

EMPEROR_COW

There is a variety of skin and eye colors among Persians. There are definitely those that would pass off as white.

BaseVilliN

@stranger:
Your in love with Jake's sister?
You know that whore of a woman said America deserved 9/11 right after the attacks.
Even the democrats came out against the attacks and condemmed them like all Americans SHOULD.
She's a creep.

Go check your head.

Jwb0711

as said before, persians are not arabs. Jake actually might be an OK match, my Persian grandfather had blue eyes

obiwankaynobi

@ApertureScienceIntern: Yeah, why pick him when there's a plethora of Persian actors to choose from? /SARCASM

PC+Mac Coexist

I am skeptical.
I am super skeptical.
I don't think this will work but I'm willing to be swayed. Makeup does wonders.

Still wish they'd chosen someone else.

Noble-Asthmatic

Well what else was the creator supposed to say?
"Gyllenhaal? Gyllenhaal?! Seriously? That wiener should play the princess! I mean, look at the size of his arms! He doesn't even look right for the part! Why didn't you guys get his sister to play the part? Sheesh! No one go see this movie 'cause the casting sucks. Nevermind the royalties I'll be geting from this one, just don't go...
...I mean, Jake Gyllenhaal?! C'mon!"
I think the above mentioned royalties might have something to do with the creators unbridled "delight" with the casting.

JokesJokes

hey we had one dude who played a gay cowboy come out with the best comic character adaptation to date....so ill give the other one a chance.@Jwb0711: that creep looked real good in the dark knight tho.

Jmontilla2786

@PC+Mac Coexist: Why pick him when there's a plethora of GOOD actors to choose from? Especially actors that are fit for action roles. I was so excited for this movie before I heard about Gyllenhaal too. I have serious misgivings about the way this will turn out.

JokesJokes

@itduzzinmatta: Comment of the century right here. L. O. L.

Thorax

N'gai Croal just made a blog saying "Obviously, there are no Persians working on this movie".

itduzzinmatta

@Jwb0711: THERES NO NEED TO BE SUCH A PRICK B***H!!!

NO NEED FOR LANGUAGE LIKE THAT AT ALL!

9/11 is NOT related to this article, nor the Dark Knight!

Check where you are before you troll

Man this is the reason why I rarely post as much on Kotaku!!

Assholes like you!

shaunomacx

@Jwb0711: THATS an unsavory comment!

shaunomacx

@shaunomacx: Easy shaun no need to get upset by such an arse :)

Cchrist

@stranger: So true!

Paganmoon

@Cchrist: sorry everyone!

apart from Jwb0711 that is

shaunomacx

yeah...
Can't see this being good.

ScarcticCG

I'm still just trying to get over Chun-li only being about a quarter Chinese in the new Street Fighter movie. But at least Jake Gyllenhaal is a very good actor, so there is a chance for quality in the PoP movie.

wageofsins

He's perfect as the Prince of Persia. Don't you know that Arabs don't exist in Hollywood?!

Lainface

@Jwb0711:

Persian != Arabic

eponym

@Fadakar:

ban hammer days are still happening, right?

icarusprime

@Jwb0711:

you are a fool.

icarusprime

Firstly its not 'He doesnt look arabic' its 'he doesnt look ARABIAN'. Secondly its called the prince of PERSIA not the prince of ARABIA. Fucking buy a globe you uncultured and ignorant idiots. _________________________________________________________________ Find the best and worst places on the planet http://clk.atdmt.com/UKM/go/101719807/direct/01/

AltonPanoptes