This short featurette features interviews with producer Jerry Bruckheimer, director Mike Newell, actress Gemma Atherton, actor Jake Gyllenhaal and Jake Gyllenhaal's abs.

News: Hot And Sexy New Prince Of Persia Featurette [Latino Review]

According to film producer Jerry Bruckheimer, the movie is screening great — no, better than great. Greater than great! Says the producer, "What we found when we tested the movie a few weeks ago, and it tested extraordinarily high which surprised me because I always think these things are going to fail but this one turned out great; the women were a surprise because I thought we made a terrific movie for the boys because the girl is beautiful but the women flipped over this film."

Continuing, he adds, "I've never had a score where the parents, there is violence, too, because it's PG-13, but the parents rated the film a hundred percent with an excellent or very good which has never happened before. So it's one of these movies that we know they'll take their children to go see it which is a huge advantage for a film, that parents can say, 'Hey, it's cool. My kid can see it.'"

Even jaded old me must admit, that trailer looks pretty cool.

News: Interview: Prince of Persia Producer Jerry Bruckheimer And Creator Jordan Mechner [Latino Review]

If you want to see it for yourself, sit tight – it runs with the premier of 2012 on November 13. Also I'm sure it'll hit the interwebs well before then. If you want to know how I felt about what I saw, read on. But know that I still haven't forgiven Ben Kingsley for BloodRayne.

Now I realize that once you've played Gandhi on the silver screen (and won an Oscar for it), everything else must pale in comparison. But seriously, Sir Kingsley, would it have killed you to show up for fencing lessons in preparation for filming BloodRayne? Just because the director sucks doesn't mean you have to.

As it turns out, Sir Kingsley only has two lines in the trailer (which is still twice as much as what comic relief character Alfred Molina gets) – so I can't judge his performance based entirely on that. The majority of the trailer is Jake Gyllenhaal leaping off of things while Gemma Arterton narrates in a quasi-mystical voice about the Dagger of Time and its powers.

Like all action trailers, there's a lot of quick cutting between unrelated sequences. Someone opens a door, the Prince looks around like he's confused and the Princess – called Tamina, not Farah – walks around looking pretty and exchanges PG-rated flirts with the Prince. Some dudes in black robes show up, looking like they just walked off the set of The Scorpion King and there's a lot of sand and gold stuff.

An interesting scene I noticed being repeated was a glowing fiery vortex within the Dagger of Time. You can see it in the trailer when the Prince activates it during a fight to rewind time. You see it again at the end of the trailer only somehow the Prince and some other person appear to be inside the Dagger, swirling around the vortex. Seems like a climactic boss fight to me. Also a temple-looking place collapses – it's all very Indiana Jones.

Speaking of which, someone pointed out to me the irony in having Alfred Molina play a comic relief character in an Indiana Jones-esque film. I'd completely forgotten that he's the guy in Raiders of the Lost Ark with the famous line "Throw me idol, I'll throw you the whip." How about that.

After the screening of the trailer, we were given a little bit of Q&A time with Jordan Mechner – but you'll have to sit tight for that as well.

Be honest – how many of you are going to go see the film 2012 just so you can watch the Prince of Persia trailer on the big screen? I totally did that with Scooby-Doo for a Harry Potter trailer and again with some other terrible film for a Two Towers trailer.

Image Cred
Image Cred

Ever wanted to see what the Prince of Persia riding a horse looks like? Bam! Empire Online has brand new exclusive shots of Prince Dastan doing that very thing. They also have shots of Dastan soaking wet, with additional shots of studs Jerry Bruckheimer and director Mike Newell.

Guess that confirms that Dastan will be shirtless, soaking, and straddling things hung like a horse at various points in the movie. I'm guessing Sands of Time is going for a hard 'R'. A ballsy move, but one that might just pay off.

Exclusive New Prince Of Persia Images [Empire]

Not what you'd expect, are they? Really clean, and modern. No tacky "Persian" logo, no silly pose modelled off a game cover. Nothing tipping you off to the fact this is a movie based on a video game series.

Which, after Max Payne and Hitman, is probably a smart way of going about it.

Exclusive: Prince of Persia Pictures [Empire]

Speaking with Games Radar, the ginger fox (and overseer of the upcoming Prince of Persia flick) answers with "I couldn't tell you that. They just haven't quite captured the imagination of the audience yet, but they will. I think it will definitely happen, whether we do it or other people do it."

Well, hopefully you do it. I'm not paying $10-15 just to see Jake Gyllenhaal prance around with his shirt off...more than one or two times.

Can Jerry Bruckheimer attract female gamers? [Games Radar]

The grand collaboration between Pirates of the Caribbean and CSI producer Jerry Bruckheimer and Rock Band creator MTV Games announced in December 2007 took another step forward with the announcement today that Bruckheimer Games will be led by two gaming industry veterans.

Jim Veevaert, a Microsoft veteran who served as executive producer of Halo 3 and worked with marquee studios Bungie, Epic and Rare during his tenure at the company will be Bruckheimer's president of production. Jay Cohen, former senior vice president of publishing at Ubisoft, is credited with helping shepherd the Tom Clancy franchises as well as Prince of Persia and Assassin's Creed. He will be Bruckheimer's director of development.

The two execs will enable the new company to "create content that challenges the way things are done and the experiences gamers have today," Bruckheimer said in a press release announcing the hires.

Kotaku interviewed both Veevaert and Cohen on Monday to find out what their signings mean for gamers.

Neither is ready to be explicit about the games the company is making nor to commit to when gamers might play the first one. But they did offer some insight into their team's philosophy:

"We're going to create games that tell great stories," Veevaert said. "It's not about naming a genre or a platform that we're making games for. It's creating that impact."

Cohen said Bruckheimer Games will run a tight ship, suggesting an intimacy of development one might not expect given the scale of the parties involved. "It's not about putting 100 titles or 50 titles… in development at the same time," he said. "Let's put a smaller number of them and think about them in the fashion that hasn't really been done before."

Bruckheimer Games will create original games that might then be turned into film or TV projects, the new executives explained. Cohen said this represented an evolution from an old mentality that viewed games as little more than the equal to the official coffee mug for a movie. Instead, he painted the mental picture of Bruckheimer's top film and TV people collaborating with the new gaming team to bring the best of all disciplines together to improve each other's chosen form of entertainment. "This is a continued progression of what is a necessary education experience for all in order to advance the entertainment experience."

Both men officially started at the company earlier this year. Veevaert is based in Seattle, Cohen in San Francisco. The Jerry Bruckheimer Games headquarters will be in the same location as its TV and film counterparts, in Santa Monica.

Likewise, Bruckheimer seems equally hypnotized by Jake Gyllenhaal. When asked what the actor brings to the film, Bruckheimer replied, "Well, he's very handsome. And he's in fantastic shape. He got in great shape for this movie. And he's a brilliant actor, and that's what it is all about. You know, he's young, he's talented, and that's what we rely on — his talent."

His talent at taking his shirt off, that is.

Regardless of how great/terrible the movie ends up, it's nice seeing somebody go to the trouble of building a ginormous, real set. Just a shame that kind of budgetary excess couldn't extend to putting some clothes on Jake Gyllenhaal.

[via Seanbajuice]

According to Variety's The Cut Scene, the former Ubisoft vet is now gainfully employed by Jerry Bruckheimer Films, the production company responsible for things like CSI, the Pirates of the Caribbean trilogy and the upcoming Prince of Persia movie adaptation.

Bruckheimer's game pursuits were announced way back in December of 2007. The blockbuster movie producer has visions of publishing brand new video game IP, something he'll do with the help of Rock Band publisher MTV Games.

"Video games represent a new and innovative medium for what we've always tried to do, which is to tell great stories. But this medium is unique in that it gives the player control over how those stories unfold," said Bruckheimer in late 2007.

Bruckheimer's track record of producing hits is pretty damn good. Can he do the same in the video game space? Will he give Pirates of the Caribbean director Gore Verbinski the opportunity to actually make that video game he's been threatening?

No details from Jerry Bruckheimer Films quite yet, but we'll keep our eyes peeled for explosive developments.

Jay Cohen running Jerry Bruckheimer's video game company [The Cut Scene]

The MTV Movie Blog reveals that the upcoming film adaptation of the novel Confessions of a Shopaholic will feature the debut of the Prince of Persia artwork in the form of a billboard in Times Square seen halfway through the movie. For those of you curious as to why Bruckheimer picked a movie about a woman nurturing a shopping addiction to debut the art, note that the billboard features PoP star Jake Gyllenhaal in full costume, which I am assuming is something the ladies might enjoy.

Those of us who aren't female or female-sensitive? Well here's an awesome excuse to ask a lady out to a nice movie for Valentine's Day with a hidden objective not nearly as obnoxious as the normal one.

Jerry Bruckheimer Debuts ‘Prince of Persia’ Poster Within His Own Film, ‘Confessions Of A Shopoholic [MTV Movie Blog - Thanks Jason!]

(If this is true, there might be spoilers.)

Passing through India en route to Azad, King Sharaman and his son, the Prince of Persia, defeat the powerful Maharajah of India with the promise of honor and glory. After looting the city and capturing a giant hourglass full of sand, a mysterious dagger, and the Maharajah's daughter Farah along with other treasures, they continue to Azad. A dying Vizier, who had betrayed the Maharajah and aided King Sharaman in return for a share of the spoils, demands to have the dagger, as he was promised his choice of the Maharajah's treasures. But Sharaman refuses to take the

dagger from his son, who captured it first. So the Vizier, who wishes to harness the power of the sands in the hourglass for himself, making him an immortal god and giving him control over time itself, tricks the Prince into opening the hourglass. When the Prince uses the dagger to unleash the Sands of Time from the hourglass, the Sands destroy the kingdom and turn all living beings into hideous sand creatures. Only the Prince, the Vizier, and Princess Farah, the kidnapped daughter of the Maharajah, remain unchanged due to their possessions; the Prince's dagger, the Vizier's staff, and Farah's medallion.

Passing through AN EXPLODING India en route to Azad, King Sharaman and his son, the Prince of Persia, defeat the powerful Maharajah of India with A FERRARI SCAGLIETTI AND A CASE OF C-4 WITH the promise of honor and glory. After looting the city WITH C-4 and capturing a giant hourglass full of DETONATING sand, a mysterious EXPLODING dagger, and the Maharajah's STRIPPER daughter Farah along with other EXPLODING treasures, they continue to Azad. A dying Vizier INJURED WHEN THE FERRARI FLIPPED OVER AND EXPLODED, who had betrayed the Maharajah and aided King Sharaman in return for a share of the spoils AND SPORTS CARS, demands to have the dagger AND A FERRARI F430, as he was promised his choice of the Maharajah's treasures AND SPORTS CARS. But Sharaman refuses to take the dagger from his son, who captured it first FROM AN EXPLOSION. So the Vizier, who wishes to harness the EXPLODING power of the sands in the hourglass for himself, making him an immortal god and giving him control over time itself WITH DYNAMITE, tricks the Prince into opening the hourglass, MAKING IT BLOW UP. When the Prince uses the dagger to unleash the Sands of Time from the hourglass, CAUSING THE THE FERRARI F430 TO FLIP OVER AND, WELL, YOU KNOW, the Sands destroy the kingdom and turn all living beings into hideous sand creatures. Only the Prince, the Vizier, and POLE-DANCING Princess Farah, the kidnapped STRIPPER daughter of the Maharajah, remain unchanged due to their possessions; the Prince's dagger, the Vizier's staff, and Farah's medallion AND EXPLOSIONS.

I guess it's the 8th or 9th Century, but that could change to. It might change a little bit, we're not sure yet. It'll definitely be a period film; we're not going to make it contemporary.

Anyway, Newell's not just known for his ladylike fare in Four Weddings and a Funeral and Tin Cup. He's also got Donnie Brasco and Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire under belt showing his craft doesn't just focus of the feminine. While it doesn't sound like the deal is sealed, it looks like Newell's schedule would allow for a chance to bring Prince of Persia to silver screens.

Disney, Bruckheimer talking 'Prince' [Variety]

Venetia is the most dedicated member of my site. I just loved the sketches she has made. In fact, there was even an online poll on a fan site and her sketches topped the list.

Straight from a new investors relations report, conceptual artwork for a buncha new Walt Disney flicks have hit the internet. Game-wise, images of super producer Jerry Bruckheimer's Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time surfaced. Looking at pics of images on horses and dudes in a boat, I can't help but wonder: How's Bruckheimer going to work in a car chase, explosions and strippers? In slow motion, that's how. Brian Ashcraft

Prince Art Images [Coming Soon via Joystiq]

Citing Disney's mad thirst for mega franchises (Pirates, Narnia), they speculate that a successful Prince of Persia film will mark the start of a trilogy. And lunchboxes, and action figures, and the inevitable Ubisoft game based off a film based off their games based off Jordan Mechner's game.

The film wouldn't be based on any particular PoP title, instead taking the series' basic themes and setting and crafting a new story out of it. It'd be lovely to see a film borrowing from Sands of Time, but something tells me that, Disney backing or not, this is going to feature the less-appealing badass Prince. Oh, and it's Bruckheimer, so expect EXPLOSIONS as well.

The Walt Disney Company embraces the "F" Word [Jim Hill, via Film Junk]