Prince of Persia Creator Speaks About The Upcoming Film

Sunday, 17 January 2010 00:28 Written by Sion Valentine

After 20 years the Prince of Persia franchise survived the leap between old school gaming and next gen gaming and is now attempting to making to make the jump onto the big screen. Jordan Mechner, creator of the title has been working with Disney on the Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time...

To pitch the movie adaptation, Mechner put together a trailer of a series of clips & footage from the 2003 game Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time and met with Jerry  Bruckheimer in 2004. After seeing what potential the game has as a movie, Bruckheimer took on the role of the Producer. Now years later with the film only a few months away some are sceptical about another movie based on a video game but Mechner loves what has come to be and hopes gamers will too.

"Games and movies are really two different types of storytelling, games are written to be played and movies are written to be watched, so the storyline of the game Sands of Time was really tailored to be played with a controller in the hand so that's why in adapting the game as a film screenplay I wrote a new story which uses a lot of elements from the game and I mean you'll definitely recognize the dagger that can turn back time and the sand-glass and other elements familiar from the Sands of Time Game but they occur in the story in a different ways, it's really a new story."

“I love the cast. I think they are all terrific. You know Jake looks a lot like the prince in the game. He’s a great actor and I think for me he embodies a lot of the qualities that sort of define the kind of hero that I’ve always seen the Prince as. He’s a warrior, but he’s also got a sort of mischievous quality, a certain vulnerability and I think Jake brings that to the screen in a way that’s really appealing."

When creating the original Prince of Persia game back in 1989, Mechner says his inspiration came from movies like Robin Hood, Arabian Nights and Raiders of the Lost Ark.

I would love to see the first Prince of Persia and also The Sands of Time remain available as the technology improves via downloads and remastering and so forth, I'm all for it.

To me, the Prince of Persia Movie is almost an old-fashioned kind of film. It’s romantic, adventurous, and it’s got these epic production values that can only be done today by a producer of the stature of Jerry Bruckheimer. For me it’s very much the kind of movie that inspired the original game and very true to that tradition, but at the same time it goes beyond it and It’s more epic that I could have imagined. I love it and I hope the gamers will too.

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The Prince of Persia: The Forgotten Sands which serves as a mid-sequel taking place between The Sands of Time and The Warrior Within Games is set to launch May 11, 2010 for Xbox 360, PS3, Wii, DS, PSP and PC.

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Here is the 20 minute interview with Mechner on HeyUGuys.