Today's Film News: Jake Gyllenhaal is Persian?

By Katey Rich

Last I checked, Jake Gyllenhaal didn't look particularly like Persian royalty, but that won't stop Jerry Bruckheimer. Gyllenhaal has been cast as the lead in Prince of Persia: Sands of Time, an adaptation of the successful video game series. Gemma Arterton, who will likely hit it big as a Bond girl this fall, will co-star as a feisty princess (Arterton, for what it's worth, is also not Persian). Bruckheimer, not exactly known for his understatements, said to The Hollywood Reporter that Persia will be "not one of our smaller productions." Hey, we all know how good fiery explosions look in the desert!

Now that Iron Man has made a hit out of what was once considered a lesser superhero, the studios are scrambling to make a mint off another familiar name. Sony was the lucky winner in a bidding war for the rights to Flash Gordon, the comic strip beginning in the 1930s that charts the adventures of a polo player-turned-intergalactic explorer. Variety writes that Breck Eisner, who directed the mega-flop Sahara, will take the reins on this one. Eisner is also at work on a remake of The Creature of the Black Lagoon, apparently trying to tarnish all memories of any pop culture that existed before the Cold War.

Guillermo del Toro has finally stopped talking about directing projects that he can't possibly manage, now that he's sold his soul to Peter Jackson and the hobbits for the next four years. But that doesn't mean he can't produce! He and Mark Johnson will produce Hater, an adaptation of a graphic novel about people who strike out in random acts of violence. Del Toro promises he'll keep his hobbit feet on the ground, telling Variety, "I'll carry my weight on the creative side, in choosing elements and storyboarding, but it will be up to Mark and the director we choose to execute the day to day. [The Hobbit is a] monumental task, and I don't want to do anything that detracts from my attention to that."

And finally, Spike Lee is doing a strange kind of promotion for his upcoming movie, The Miracle at St. Anna, by standing around at Cannes and insulting some of the festival's most beloved directors. Not only did Lee accuse Joel and Ethan Coen of not respecting life (while insisting that he did, of course), he lambasted Clint Eastwood for not including a single black actor in either Flags of Our Fathers or Letters from Iwo Jima. The Reporter has the full text of his remarks, and while he may have a fair point or two, he's probably not winning friends by rabblerousing for the sake of publicity, and attempting to take down some mighty figures in the process.