Disney made the most of their WonderCon time this weekend, treating fans and curious spectators alike with two exclusive clips from the Prince of Persia‘s fabled world of 1,001 Nights.
I gotta be honest with you, I wasn’t sure what to expect. Newell and Bruckheimer have already spoken at length at WonderCon about their sensitivity to bringing this adaptation to the big screen, and on paper, it doesn’t seem like an odd bet. Bruckheimer certainly struck gold with the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise, and given what Newell was able to do with the much beloved world of Harry Potter, I wasn’t as skeptical of his helming as I was at the odds of something getting completely lost in translation.
That being said, Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time looks like it’s going to be a fun ride. The debut clip was an attack on a heavily fortified city and clearly shows off Gyllenhaal’s much talked about stuntwork (thanks to his acrobatic and Parkour training). There’s lots of sneaking around, last minute ingenuity and, of course, swordfighting (the hallmarks of any swashbuckler adventure film), but everything doesn’t always go according to plan. Yes, this is an action flick, but this is also a Newell film.
The Prince of Persia world feels believable and it’s evident that the crew took pains to make it so. During the panel, Newell revealed that the scene from the first clip “took forever to film and was shot on three separate tracks (character, stunt and computer graphics). The big shots of the city didn’t exist and interior pieces were filmed on the Bond Stage in London, but with high levels of detail. There’s no winking at the camera. We wanted the audience to be right in the middle of the movie, not the movie commenting on itself.”
The second clip that was shown demonstrated what the Dagger of Time actually is and what it is capable of doing, much to the delight of Prince Dastan. It isn’t too difficult to see why anyone who was able to get their hands on it would be reluctant to give it up.
Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time will be unleashed to audiences on May 28.
Paul
April 8, 2010 at 8:27 pmso when do we get the clips?
Chris Ullrich
April 9, 2010 at 2:16 pmHopefully soon. They were just shown at the event.