Prince of Persia Sands of Time

It's impossible to be in three places at once . . . unless you're the cast of Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time, that is. Over the weekend, the cast not only premiered their action-adventure flick in the UK, but with the help of tech, they also showed up for the premiere in Sydney and Tokyo.

Jake Gyllenhaal and Gemma Arterton, alongside producer Jerry Bruckheimer, Sir Ben Kingsley, and director Mike Newell participated in a multi-country simulcast to virtually meet and greet moviegoers while they anxiously waited for the film to begin. Although Jake loves traveling from country to country to promote his latest body of work, he also thinks the simulcast premiere is the way of the future. Hear what else he said about the creative use of technology in the video after the break.

Disney has released the first minute-long clip of the upcoming video-game-to-movie blockbuster, Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time, and so far things are looking good. The clip highlights Price Dastan's ability to jump, leap, and outwit the bad guys (just like we saw in the previous behind-the-scenes video), and we get to see star Jake Gyllenhaal perform the stunts he became so addicted to during filming.

The film opens on May 28 here in the US, but you can find me replaying the original video game title (and maybe dabbling in the latest version) until then.

As excited as I am to see Prince of Persia: Sands of Time next month, I was giddy when I heard about the LEGO version of the official trailer. Taking the Prince of Persia LEGO collection, an MTV producer put in three weeks of blood, sweat, and tears to reshoot — frame for frame — the entire two-minute Prince of Persia trailer. Amazing? Pretty much. Check it out after the break!

One of my favorite things about bringing a DVD home is the special features. Thankfully, Disney isn't making us wait for the behind-the-scenes goodies and has given us a sneak peek of what went into taking Prince of Persia from your console to the big screen. When he isn't toting his sweet Nikon DSLR, Jerry Bruckheimer — along with Jake Gyllenhaal and Mike Newell — talks about Prince of Persia's special effects, story, and the relationship between Prince Dastan and Tamina. Sure, the story may have changed slightly since you played it on your PS2 or GameCube back in 2003 (not to mention the new names), but I'm betting you're still excited to see the Prince make his silver screen debut, no? Check out the featurette after the break!

After sitting down with Jake Gyllenhaal at this year's WonderCon in SF, I headed over to chat with Director Mike Newell and Prince of Persia creator Jordan Mechner. Mike Newell is no stranger to mystical story lines, as he's directed such blockbusters as Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, while Jordan Mechner started the whole story in motion back in 1989. Find out what they had to say about the future of the franchise, and why they decided not to bring Prince Dastan to life in 3D below!

Director Mike Newell on how he got involved with Prince of Persia: What drew me towards it was that I loved the script, and the idea of it. I was sent two things; I was sent the script, and I was also sent by Jerry [Bruckheimer], a beautiful art book of 19th century pictures — by mostly French painters — of people who had been out to Arabia, and had painted what they'd seen there, like documentary paintings of what they saw in Arabia. There was this incredible light, trains of camels, architecture, the desert, lines of fierce horseman attacking, and I remember phoning Jerry back and he said, "Well, what do you think?" and I said, "I dunno yet, but I'm not giving you the book back."

To hear why the story was so important, Mike Newell's thoughts on 3D and the film industry, as well as how the original Prince of Persia story was inspired, just read more.