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I’m really not trying to be mean, but this Prince of Persia movie looks like a total crapfest. It looks so boring, I could even force myself to watch this entire trailer (it’s the second one that’s been released, and this is longer!). Like, horrible, cheesy special effects, a slap-dash voiceover to explain the unnecessarily complicated plot, and Jake Gyllenhaal looking… well, it’s not he looks bad, per se. He looks buff and tough, although he would never even make my top ten list of actors who should attempt to be an action hero. He’s just got such a cute face. His face doesn’t say “bad-ass prince of Persia”. His face says “I really loved kissing Heath Ledger.” But what’s really bothering me is his wonky accent work. What accent is trying to do? It sounds vaguely English, but like he’s really drunk and trying to do an English accent.
Anyway, I’ve been wrong about this stuff before. I never would have thought that the Pirates of the Caribbean series would be such big hits either. And this one has it all – a dagger, a prince, demon assassins, horses and lots of muscles. Is that enough to make a family film? We’ll see.
In other Jake news, he’s been confirmed as a presenter at the Oscars, along with Gerard Butler, Bradley Cooper, Tom Ford, Chris Pine, Keanu Reeves, Ryan Reynolds and Sam Worthington. Hm… Tom Ford? I love it! Keanu? Spectacular. And Ryan Reynolds, sweet Jesus. The Oscars might be exciting this year solely for the delectable man-meat.
‘Prince of Persia’ poster & images from Google Images.
Written by Kaiser
Posted in Jake Gyllenhaal
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47 Responses to “What accent is Jake Gyllenhaal aiming for in ‘Prince of Persia’?”
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jake=yummy
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Not looking forward to it at all. From the moment they cast Gyllenhaal, I knew it was going to suck.
I love the game’s storylines and characters. Why can’t they cast another actor? Someone who looks like a middle-eastern man. *cough*Oded Fehr (sp?)*cough*
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um…a horribly sucky doesn’t-sound-like-any-accent-I’ve-ever-heard accent?
saw a preview for this movie and the bf and I were laughing out loud in the theater.
and we weren’t the only ones.
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BBC English!
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OHMYGODWHYNOTCASTAPERSIAN!
I mean, I get that white guys fill more seats. But this is very West Side Story. “We’re going to have a movie about Puerto Ricans but not cast any in leading roles”
Whatever I hate it just for that.
And the accent? Certainly not Persian. Perhaps he’s going for ‘ambiguously ethnic’.
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why couldnt they cast someone else is right! he is the most slow-faced sad puppy dog eyed actor around. I dont see him as an action hero at all. I also hate lazy decisions where playing someone foreign means having to have a british accent. snooze. he should have attempted a persian accent.
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i guess it’s too hard to cast someone of persian/middle eastern descent…this sh** looks horrible
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Oh please…the gays will flock to this in droves.
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Why should he attempt to be “Persian” when the guy in the games sounds British? Not defending this particular shitty accent. Just saying.
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He looks so unkempt. Persians did not look dirty with greasy hair and an untrimmed beard.
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I take it you’re not a big gamer.
The Prince of Persia game series is FUN, and honestly, Jake looks very like the Prince. And to second Marie, the voice in the games isn’t particularly accurate.
It’s fiction, folks. It’s a movie based on a video game, no less. (Remember Tomb Raider?)
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i want to have sex with him – and i am a lesbian. i just love him SO much! also, he looks just like a disney cartoon come to life.
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boring. jakey poo as an action hero? i don’t think so.
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It’s a West Hollywood accent.
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*British chick shrugs*
He honestly doesn’t sound that bad to me, but then he doesn’t say much in this trailer. It’s not trying to be BBC/Queen’s/Received Pronunciation English; he’s trying to go for a Mockney, generic London accent and he does okay, with the occasional slip into Australian. (The pronunciation of “dagger” as “deggar” – oy.)
But the real question is why do it in a Mockney accent or any English accent at all?! He’s American, the character’s Persian, why bother? What weird half-arsed “authenticity” are they aiming for? Would it have been SO FAKE for him to speak in his own accent?
But agreeing that he doesn’t look the action hero part. As buff as he now is, his face still doesn’t match it and it’s really distracting. Like Brad Pitt’s face on that little boy body in Benjamin Button. Just wrong.
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lol at sumodo1…!
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Monkey I want to have sex with him too!!! He is super f*cking hot!
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Well, I guess those in charge in Hollywood decided that if Brad Pitt can play Achilles and make a sh!tload of money then Jakey can do a Persian.
Sukota is right, Persian warriors were neat, clean and dressed beautifully. They actually wore colorful sort of skirt things and their armor, tents and horses were beautiful. They also had well trimmed facial hair and short hair worn under beautiful helmets. A Persian without facial hair would be considered a boy and not suitable for war. But, this thing is from a video game so I guess all authencity goes out the window.
I kind of think it might be a hit just because it’s from a game and the gameboys will want to see it. Lara Croft stunk but it was a hit because of the gamers who paid to see it.
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Okay. I watched the trailer. It’s pretty awful but I think since it’s Disney and Bruckheimer, it will definitely be a hit.
It looks like those “Mummy” movies with Brenden Fraser.
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what is his accent?
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Just the name of the movie sounds totally cheesy. From the tabloids Jakey seems like a great catch, but I personally don’t find him attractive. But I would like him to find a loving girlfriend. He seems so pitiful for some reason.
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He LOOKS good…but I don’t think the movie will do any good. It’s sad when the only accent that movie stars can do is a British one. It happened in that Tom Cruise movie…Valkyrie…they were supposed to be German but they were mostly all speaking with British accents…and some of them no accents at all. Just makes it so hard to believe the story when they can’t get the speaking right. Just my two cents.
Jake’s muscles look great though.
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Plot? Who cares? Does he have his shirt off most of the time? I’m in!
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The prince in the game is not a badass, he is quite dumb and clumsy, actually. And it seems from the trailer that those features are in the character as well.
The prince was the first parkour in history: thumbs up!
The sands of time is one of the best VGs ever.
Last but not least albeit my first impression was negative Jake seems perfect for the role.
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Not a particular fan of Jakes, I find him quite boring and he certainly doesn’t scream action hero…lol.
That said, the movie doesn’t look too bad, the preview reminds me of ‘The Mummy’ and I don’t know why you say ‘cheesy effects’ Kaiser they look fine to me, no cheesier than 2012 which broke the box office on release.
It’s a game based, effects driven movie, what do you expect Shakespeare, (though that accent sounds like Jake is giving it a try), it will make a ton of money and provide some escapism for movie goers in a dismal economy, which is all ticket buyers will be asking for.
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He is not who I would have picked for this film role at all. He looks like he is dressing up for a costume party.
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@ Novaraen: Regarding the Valkyrie comment, most Germans actually sound British when they speak English. I’ve made the mistake of asking a few Germans if they’re from England and getting an odd look. lol.
@ everyone else: Who cares about his accent? Look at that body!! Look at those hip bones!!!
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Um, have any of y’all actually played the game this movie is based off of? Jake looks almost exactly like the prince. It blew me away when I first saw the trailer.
And Kaiser, I gotta ask – how old are you exactly? I’m willing to bet you’re not the movie’s intended audience.
Also, @Solveig – Which Prince of Persia game are you talking about? Because in Sands of Time, Warrior Within, and Two Thrones the prince was a total hot piece of grade-A badass.
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He or his sister are both children of HW nepotism & not attractive enough to warrant movie careers. Maybe TV, tops.
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I know guys who played the game and they say that the film looks amazing. I might just give this a go. AND that accent is Jake-is-HOT accent.
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I’m not going to see this film willingly, so that aside i’ll get on with my observations.
His accent is kind-of borderline Home Counties dipping into Estuary accent English. Actually not a bad attempt to my ears. But like everyone else, I don’t see the point of the actors speaking anything other than their own as it adds nothing to the plot. Still better than the mangled attempts are Irish accents, and Angelina’s weird stock-vampire snarl in “Alexander” though.
Novaraen:
March 2nd, 2010 at 6:08 pm
It happened in that Tom Cruise movie…Valkyrie…they were supposed to be German but they were mostly all speaking with British accents…and some of them no accents at all.
Sorry this made me LOL. Every single actor in that film spoke with an accent, they just happened to be their own
Wilz, I’m afraid that 95% of the time, there is no mistaking a German speaking English. Unless they’ve been living in Britain for years, they will speak with a German accent. But people learning English as a second language, especially when they’re older, tend to pick up on the quirks of accent and pronunciation of their teacher or where they live.
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This movie is based on a video game, not a flippin history book! This is a movie for gamers & people who wanna see an adventure movie & those who wanna see Jake topless, i.e. ME!
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He looks so much like the character of the game. Im not a huge fan of JG but he does look great in this movie.
Very buff and manly. My gay boyfriends are going to love it!
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@GatsbyGal, I was talking about The Sands of Time and the NG’s one, I played them both. I didn’t play Warrior Within and Two Thrones ’cause I found them too violent, “dark” and not funny at all.
I meant that in those games I played the character was quite funny, clumsy, sometimes childish, the prince wasn’t exactly a badass in the strict meaning of the term.
Probably I should’ve specify that I was talking about The Sands of Time game, and not in general.
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Agreed with some of the other comments. Why not cast a Persian/Iranian actor? Jake G. embarrasses me as an American. He shouldn’t be in the role, even if it is only a video game. Cast appropriately, PLEASE.
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I think the fact that this is based on a video game doesn’t really explain why you would cast Jake when there are other Persian actors who would be more convincing.
However…it just looks silly to me – my threshold for these types of pictures, replete with unnecessarily complicated plot twists, clumsy exposition, predictable action sequences and stupid one-liners, is very low. I doubt I’ll see it – but I’m sure it will do well its first weekend. When words gets out that it’s not very good, people won’t show up after opening weekend.
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I’m a little late to the game, but I’m in agreement with everyone else. I thought we were at a stage in history where we were past casting caucasian actors for non-caucasian roles. I guess not. Bummer. I really like the video game series though – really great story lines.
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Diane, please name a well-known leading man Iranian actor, ‘cos off-the-top-of-my-head, erm…. nope!
The video game was fab and featured a loveably-doofus blue-eyed prince with an Oxbridge accent, so I think Jake G is a good fit, and let’s face it – I don’t think they’re aiming for Oscar glory here.
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Just wondering, all the chaps complaining that they should have cast a Persian – does that go for every role in Hollywood? Should I be out protesting that Robert Downey Jr shouldn’t have been cast as Sherlock Holmes because he’s not English? (I’m not trying to be confrontational here. It’s a weird area and I’m genuinely interested.)
I get that it must be hard and dispiriting for non-white actors to watch while the few roles for which the money men might regard them as ethnically suitable are snatched up by white-bread American stars; but how specific do we get when casting by ethnicity? Would it have been enough to cast a non-white actor as the prince (even when, as other posters have pointed out, the game character doesn’t look particularly Persian)?
Or would people be reacting the same way if, say, a Lebanese actor who could pass for Persian had been cast – would they still say that it should have been a real Persian?
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I truly loved and still love the video games. I have them all and play them occasionally. I’m looking forward to the movie where the prince will turn into a (half)bad one. The prince in the video games is very hot and Gyllenhaal fits that picture, although it isn’t a typical Gyllenhaal role. People stop moaning about things that you aren’t used to and accept new things from this really hot actor. Who cares if the movie indeed sucks, he’s good to look at right? Some pirate films sucks as well, but it is still nice to look at the eye candy in them. Although Obie really annoys me sometimes cause he really IS a bad actor. I don’t think Jake Gyllenhaal will have this effect on me. Cause his other acting jobs were mighty fine.
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Accents in movies will never be right. The fact is, if Valkyrie were real all those characters would have been speaking German. They wouldn’t have any accent at all, because they’re Germans, speaking German. To be accurate, no one should have been speaking English at all. In Troy, again, NO ONE would have been speaking English, so no matter WHICH accent anyone used, it was wrong.
With that perspective in mind, can we all get over it?
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I love you Jake <3
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Oded Fehr = Mmmmmmmmmm
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“He or his sister are both children of HW nepotism & not attractive enough to warrant movie careers. Maybe TV, tops.”
I love comments like this and stuff along the lines of “He is hot, this movie will be great!” When people judge a movie’s quality based on how hot the lead is and nothing else, it is easy to see why hollywood is continuously churning out crap. They dont need quality because the general public has no standards.
Yeah, Casablanca was a great movie because Humphrey Bogart and Peter Lorre were such hotties.
*rolls eyes*
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Well, I just saw a sample clip of the movie (just about to see the full thing)…and I honestly had to check whether he was actually an English actor…and I’m English and normally pretty good with accents.
It almost seems to me that the only people criticising his English accent are people who are from outside the UK. Strange that.
I have seen quite a few instances on TV and in real life where someone with a quite genuine English accent (which actually tends to have quite an amazing variation depending which part of England you are from) are accused of having a fake accent. What is all that about?
Anyway, coming from the North as I do, it sounded to me like a fairly generic London accent (which tends to have a very vague cockney twang to it), which is not the same as BBC newscaster English at all. If I lived down south I could probably identify what his vocal/accent coach was going for a bit more accurately. I think some of the comments above have done that.
So credit to him for trying and his accent coach for getting to the point where he doesn’t trigger the normal English listener’s cringe-reaction when listening to an American attempting an English accent.
Another point…I hear people referring to a ‘British’ accent. There is no such thing. Unless you include the Scottish and Welsh accents, which are completely different from English!
Anyway back to the point, regardless of whether it was the right type of accent for the role, it was a generally good attempt in my opinion
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I’m English and Jake’s accent in the movie was really rather good. And no, there’s no such thing as a ‘British’ accent. His was quite authentically London English with an ever-so-slight Cockney twang. As the previous poster says, ‘British’ could mean Scottish, Welsh, Cornish etc. It’s a meaningless term.
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I am also English, from the same area that Jake’s accent in the movie is from. I can confirm that his accent is superb – incredibly authentic and natural.
Until that performance I thought it was only Australian actors who were skilled with accents, but turns out that at least one American can do it too!
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