Feature: Prince of Persia's Journey To The Big Screen

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When it comes to Jordan Mechner’s Prince of Persia videogame franchise, there are legions of fans around the globe who have followed the heroic Prince from his rudimentary origin, as a 2D side-scrolling action adventure game on the Apple II computer, to his recent 3D re-invention in Ubisoft Montreal's acclaimed Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time.

It was the enduring success of the franchise, which has sold over 14 million copies globally, that prompted Jerry Bruckheimer (Pirates of the Caribbean) to come on board as executive producer of the Disney film adaptation. His first move was to hire Mechner to draft the screenplay – a Hollywood first.

“We really set out to make a movie that you didn’t need to be a videogamer to appreciate -- it’s really a movie for everyone,” said Mechner, who recently worked with Ubisoft on the fourth game in The Sands of Time franchise, Prince of Persia: The Forgotten Sands. “But at the same time, for people who have played Prince of Persia games there are a lot of moments that gamers can pick up on.”



Mechner’s script attracted veteran director Mike Newell. Bruckheimer, who is now developing his own videogames through his Bruckheimer Games label, said that Newell was perfect for Prince of Persia because it was obvious that the director understood realism from his work on Donnie Brasco, humor with Four Weddings and a Funeral, and fantasy with Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire.

Although he didn’t know how to play the videogame, Newell immediately took a liking to Mechner, who spent a lot of time researching the ancient world of Persia for both the game and the movie. “It was a marriage made in heaven…one of those happy accidents," said Newell. "What I loved about him was that he was a research freak and he really got into the details of the period in which the game was set, the nature of the story.”

“Prince of Persia was never intended to be an accurate representation of 6th-Century Persia, but Jordan has taken the good bits from all over and added them to the story," Newell added. "He was somebody who was absolutely fascinated with the culture and with the history and we met on that ground very happily.”

The story of the film differs from the game, as Mechner had a two-hour block of time to captive audience without interactivity. But the hero, Prince Dastan (Jake Gyllenhaal), still needs to undo a mistake he’s made with the help of Tamina (Gemma Arterton), and the duo’s quest ultimately pits them against the evil Nizam (Ben Kingsley).

“At the beginning at the movie, Dastan’s an orphan and he’s rescued by the King and when he sees the potential of losing this family that has brought him in and basically saved his life, he sees how much his family means to him,” said Gyllenhaal. “When that’s threatened, I think he starts taking his life and the lives of others around him much more seriously.”

“The message of this film has to do with the break-up and disintegration of a family through sibling rivalry, and then the rebuilding of that family,” said Kingsley. “For me it was a seamless jump to go from Martin Scorsese’s set on Shutter Island to Jerry Bruckheimer and Mike Newell’s set on this film because -- while it’s exciting, thrilling, and an action-packed drama -- it’s character-driven. I love being in this film because it gives actors a great opportunity to delve into their characters and their cracks and flaws.”

Arterton breathes life into a strong female heroine in the film. Her Tamina is a character that’s not directly based on the game world. “She’s a guardian of the Dagger of Time and when the Persians invade her city and take the dagger, they also take her and try and marry her off to one of the princes,” said Arterton. “She escapes and Jake’s character steals the dagger, so she follows him and tries to get the dagger back from him. There are lots of banter and fights and it’s a very fun and playful relationship. They fall in love with each other.”

In order to prepare for all the of the fights and action sequences in this big-budget summer blockbuster, which has a rumored budget of $250 million, Gyllenhaal first picked up the game controllers to play through Mechner’s game. He’d played the original 2D incarnation as an eight-year-old kid and he “researched” The Sands of Time game thoroughly after reading the script. Then came the hard work (have a look at some of it below).

“I knew that in order to do all the stuff that was going to be physical in the movie I would have to get in pretty good shape, so I started on a physical level learning acrobatics and working with gymnasts and learning parkour,” said Gyllenhaal. “From there, I worked on an accent and after that came into play – the English accent, and the physical aspect of learning what this character does, the character started to build itself.”

Audiences can get the big-screen version of Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time in theaters on May 28, and then play through the entire collection of games, including Ubisoft’s new Prince of Persia: The Forgotten Sands, the latest installment in Mechner’s game franchise. The game maker has also released a free 2D version of the game on Facebook that shows Mechner’s origin character. The Prince has come a long way since 1987, but he’s clearly here to stay. And Gyllenhaal is already game for a sequel.

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