Jake Gyllenhaal to play Prince of Persia

Jake Gyllenhaal, him out of Donnie Darko and Brokeback Mountain, has signed up to don the big trousers for the Prince of Persia film.

According to the Hollywood Reporter the film is set in 6th century Persia. Gyllenhaal will play the prince, Dastan, while the role of "feisty and exotic" princess Tamina will be played by Gemma Arterton. No, not Gemma Atkinson, unfortunately; Arterton is the one appearing in the new James Bond film, Quantum of Solace. Together, Dastan and Tamina must take on an evil nobleman who is determined to possess the Sands of Time.

Mike Newell (who made Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire and Four Weddings and a Funeral, amongst other things) will direct the film. The script has been written by Doug Miro, Carlo Bernard and Boaz Yakin (no idea but IMDB reveals Yoakin wrote Dirty Dancing: Havana Nights, worryingly) together with POP creator Jordan Mechner.

Jerry Bruckheimer is producing and reckons Gyllenhaal is "charismatic", while Arterton is also a good choice despite not having been in Hollyoaks.

"We've been fairly fortunate with some of our leading ladies," he said. "Some of them have gone on to become major movie stars, going back to Nicole Kidman in a movie I did a long time ago called Days of Thunder to Keira Knightley out of Pirates of the Caribbean."

Bruckheimer would not reveal the budget for the film but did say, "It's not one of our smaller productions."

Filming will begin in Morocco and England this June, and the movie is pencilled in for a 2009 release.