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Why Is a White Actor Playing 'Prince of Persia' Title Role?

You're seriously asking that? Hollywood is rife with examples of white people playing roles of other races.

John Wayne played Genghis Kahn fer cryin' out loud!

Yes, and today we recognize that as unacceptably racist (as well as one of the worst casting decisions ever made for plenty of other reasons). By now we should know better.


Name an Iranian actor with the same name recognition as Jake Gyllenhall. Hell, just name an Iranian actor, I bet most people here can't.

Shaun Toub. Adrian Pasdar. Catherine Bell. Sarah Shahi. Omid Djalili. Shohreh Aghdashloo. Anthony Azizi. Bahar Soomekh. Fairuza Balk. Shiva Rose.

The fact that you had to think back over 30 years to come up with a hit movie without a recognizable lead says a lot.

Err... Daniel Radcliffe and Emma Watson? Kristin Stewart and Robert Pattinson? Chris Pine? Hugh Jackman and Famke Janssen? Lots of movies based on pre-existing franchises have been successes without big-name stars, and have even made stars out of their previously-obscure leads.
 
I don't have the link at the moment and it wouldn't do most of you any good, because it was in German, but the director has admitted that he cast Dastan purely for his looks only to get female butts into the seats.

I've seen the movie already by the way. It was better than you might think.
Don't expect high art or anything but it was two entertaining hours.
The end was pretty predictable. Any half serious scifi/fantasy fan could see it coming a mile away.
But that's also to be expected in such a mainstream oriented movie.

Doesn't hurt to watch it but you don't miss anything world changing if your not interested either.
 
the director has admitted that he cast Dastan purely for his looks only to get female butts into the seats.

Well if that's what they wanted, then they desperately needed Adrian Pasdar instead of homely, wrinkley old Ben Kinglsey!
 
Omid Djalili would make a fabulous Prince of Persia.
I had to look that guy up! :rommie: Dastan should be a charismatic and reasonably decent looking young guy, not some old guy who looks like Telly Savalas!

That's a bit harsh, he's only 44 and he's brilliantly funny.

Seriously though, Kayvan Novak would have been ideal.
 
You're seriously asking that? Hollywood is rife with examples of white people playing roles of other races.

John Wayne played Genghis Kahn fer cryin' out loud!

Yes, and today we recognize that as unacceptably racist (as well as one of the worst casting decisions ever made for plenty of other reasons). By now we should know better.

Racist? No. Bad casting? Absolutely. Do we know better? Apparently not.

Name an Iranian actor with the same name recognition as Jake Gyllenhall. Hell, just name an Iranian actor, I bet most people here can't.

Shaun Toub. Adrian Pasdar. Catherine Bell. Sarah Shahi. Omid Djalili. Shohreh Aghdashloo. Anthony Azizi. Bahar Soomekh. Fairuza Balk. Shiva Rose.
Even though Oden Fehr is Israeli,he's from the region, which would make his being the lead more believable.

The fact that you had to think back over 30 years to come up with a hit movie without a recognizable lead says a lot.

Err... Daniel Radcliffe and Emma Watson? Kristin Stewart and Robert Pattinson? Chris Pine? Hugh Jackman and Famke Janssen? Lots of movies based on pre-existing franchises have been successes without big-name stars, and have even made stars out of their previously-obscure leads.
[/quote]

Brilliant :techman: I kept drawing a blank for recent examples.
 
Omid Djalili would make a fabulous Prince of Persia.
I had to look that guy up! :rommie: Dastan should be a charismatic and reasonably decent looking young guy, not some old guy who looks like Telly Savalas!

That's a bit harsh, he's only 44 and he's brilliantly funny.

Which does nothing to address the central problem that he's UGLY. :rommie:

If they wanted some middle-aged guy for the part, Adrian Pasdar's your man. Much more likely to get those female butts-in-seats.
 
Why should an actor have name recognition? Star Wars: A New Hope was a box office smash with an unknown actor named Mark Hamil playing the lead. :vulcan:
The fact that you had to think back over 30 years to come up with a hit movie without a recognizable lead says a lot.

You could have at least said Avatar, but even in that case, the movie's director was a household name.
Napoleon Dynamite.
 
Make Thor black, as reparations. I nominate Samuel L. Jackson, whose awesomeness will allow him to play Thor, Nick Fury, Ms. Marvel and The Dread Dormammu. In the same movie.
 
I'm as politically correct as the next guy, but, honestly, I can't get too worked up about this. We're not talking a serious film about Persian history; it's an old-fashioned Arabian Nights swashbuckler, and based on a video game to boot.

I don't think anyone expects it to be historically or ethnically accurate . . . .
 
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Shaun Toub. Adrian Pasdar. Catherine Bell. Sarah Shahi. Omid Djalili. Shohreh Aghdashloo. Anthony Azizi. Bahar Soomekh. Fairuza Balk. Shiva Rose.

You don't seriously think any of those names are as well known as the guy who headlined Day After Tomorrow, Brokeback Mountain, Donnie Darko, etc? I've only heard of like half those names and I'm pretty sure none of them ever headlined a well known movie.


Err... Daniel Radcliffe and Emma Watson? Kristin Stewart and Robert Pattinson? Chris Pine? Hugh Jackman and Famke Janssen? Lots of movies based on pre-existing franchises have been successes without big-name stars, and have even made stars out of their previously-obscure leads.
You don't seriously think Prince of Persia has the same built-in fanbase as Star Trek, Twilight, Harry Potter, or X-Men, do you?
 
Err... Daniel Radcliffe and Emma Watson? Kristin Stewart and Robert Pattinson? Chris Pine? Hugh Jackman and Famke Janssen? Lots of movies based on pre-existing franchises have been successes without big-name stars, and have even made stars out of their previously-obscure leads.
You don't seriously think Prince of Persia has the same built-in fanbase as Star Trek, Twilight, Harry Potter, or X-Men, do you?

In other words, you have no decent response to Hollywood using a lily-white actor as a Persian lead :rolleyes:

Face it, a film does not require a big name actor in order to be successful.
 
In other words, you have no decent response to Hollywood using a lily-white actor as a Persian lead :rolleyes:
What response are you looking for?

Obviously, studios and producers are more comfortable with no-names in the lead when dealing with known commodities like Twilight, but less so with unknown commodities like Prince of Persia. If I was sinking millions into a video game movie, I would damn well want a recognizable "name" in the lead, and none of the Persian/Iranian actors I've heard mentioned in this thread fit the bill.

Hollywood studios are always looking to reduce their financial risk, and hiring a well known actor is commonly accepted as a way to reduce that risk. I can't believe this is somehow a controversial concept around here.
 
They're trying to turn this into a new POTC franchise, but it aint' gonna work without Johnny Depp.
 
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