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Jake Gyllenhaal admits he shouldn't have been cast in Prince of Persia

Jake Gyllenhaal admits he shouldn't have been cast in Prince of Persia

The actor acknowledges the role didn't 'fit [him] perfectly' on account of him being white
01 Jul, 2019

Jake Gyllenhaal finally admits to the whitewashing around his casting in 2010's Prince of Persia: Sands of Time.

Even though the original video game is set in historic Persia, an actor of Iranian-descent was not approached for the lead role by Disney.

Speaking to Yahoo Entertainment, Gyllenhaal claimed, “I think I learned a lot from that movie in that I spend a lot of time trying to be very thoughtful about the roles that I pick and why I’m picking them”.

He added, "And you're bound to slip up and be like, 'That wasn't right for me,' or 'That didn't fit perfectly.' There have been a number of roles like that. And then a number of roles that do."

Hollywood has recently embraced a culture of celebrities and production houses revisiting past projects, and mistakes. While Jake Gyllenhaal didn't outright mention the whitewashing involved in him being cast as Dastan, we appreciate him owning up to being wrong for the role.

However, the industry has always been characterised by incentives that motivate stakeholders to act in ways they wish to do so. Gyllenhaal made these remarks very close to the 2nd July premiere of his upcoming movie Spiderman: Far from home. The actor will be playing Quentin Beck, also known as Mysterio.

Interestingly, Marvel fans consist of a huge number of youngsters and teenagers who are keeping up with changing norms about political correctness hence somewhat explaining Gyllenhaal’s actions.

It's time for more celebrities and production houses learn to revisit and rectify their past mistakes.

Comments

Rohail Jul 01, 2019 05:35pm
I dont understand why people critised him being part of the movie. Ive die hard fan of Prince of persia game series and i loved that movie too and i enjoyed watching jack as Prince of Persia
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Elia Jul 01, 2019 07:30pm
@Rohail Exactly! He had done a great job.
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Sabir Punjabi Jul 02, 2019 02:57am
I only watched prince of Persia because of Jake. He was perfect for the role of Prince of Persia. He looks Persian as well.. he has that quality and innocence to be Prince of Persia .
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