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

[exodus]

All you "demonstrated" was that you have the ability to google for a list of Iranian actors. You haven't gotten anywhere near disproving my actual point, which is that there are no Iranian/Persian actors as well-known as Jake Gyllenhall. I'm pretty sure you realize my point was not "there are no Iranian actors that anyone in America has even heard of".

All I know is what I can get from the words you choose, and your own exact words were: "Hell, just name an Iranian actor, I bet most people here can't." That was the specific challenge you made, and I responded to it. You have no business crying foul when you were the one who chose to phrase the challenge in that way. If that wasn't the idea you intended to convey, then the mistake is yours for choosing such an ill-conceived, hyperbolic way to make your point. Take responsibility for your own choice of words.

And yes, I made the list with help from Wikipedia, but just about all those names I listed were actors I was already familiar with and that are reasonably well-known to the public at large, even if not everyone knows they're Iranian. You said you bet that most people here couldn't name an Iranian actor. I'm sure most people here do know the names Adrian Pasdar, Catherine Bell, and Shaun Toub at the very least, and though I'm not familiar with Sarah Shahi, she seems to be pretty popular with others on this board, and gets more Google hits than Pasdar and Toub put together.

Okay, so maybe I've just shot down a single point you made rather than addressing your core argument. But an argument is only as good as its evidence, and the specific claims you're using to support your case are highly flawed.

He asked everyone to "name an of Iranian actor".
He didn't say "look up a name of an Iranian actor".
If you had to look up names(which is cheating and we could all do that to answer the question), then you couldn't name one off the top of your head. That is why he asked in the first place. His implication was clear from his phrasing.

 

[Mr. Adventure]

They should have just adapted the first game and they wouldn't have this controversy.

 

[John Picard]

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

Face it, a film does not require a big name actor in order to be successful.

Sorry but sure it does.

Prince of Persia is a video game.
How many people 45 and over know what that is?
How many grown women or even young girls, know of the game.
Having a name like Jake's in the lead, gets those butts in the seats. They're banking on sex appeal & popularity to get the non-gaming audience to come out and see this film.

Films like "Last Airbender", their banking on the audiences curiosity to sell it. This controversy is what might sell it because folks are going to want to know what the fuss is about. Just like the curiosity behind the new special effects sold "Star Wars".

Actually, Star Wars was literally laughed out of theaters when the initial trailers played. They had to be re-tooled and then released after a short delay.

I am old enough to remember what a phenomenon the movie was, and it wasn't just the FX that sold it -- it was the story itself and how it was presented.

So no, a big name star is not going to just sell a movie. Were that true, then many of the most recent Jack Nicholson flicks should have been absolute blockbusters.

 

[Dusty Ayres]

If an actor can pretend to be somebody else from a different place and a different time, why can't he also pretend to be somebody else of a different ethnic group?

Every time one of these arguments comes up, I'm reminded of the fuss over Jonathan Pryce starring in Miss Saigon. Protest groups railed against a white actor playing a half-white/half Asian character, to the point of getting the show closed down - putting 16 Asian actors out of work!

The reason Pryce's casting was objected to was because it is considered 'yellowface' in the same way a white person playing as black under burnt cork is considered blackface-racially insulting to Asians. While I can agree with this, I also find the objections to Gyllenhaal playing a Persian character to be ridiculous-especially since most Iranians I've seen are of the same skin colour as Gyllenhaal (there's a picture of a side-by-side comparision between Reza Cyrus Pahlavi and Gyllenhaal, and both look the same.)

As for the other matter: might it not have been better for Claude-Michel Schönberg and Alain Boublil to do something else with Asian people in it that wasn't so much a remake of Madame Butterfly? Especially something as tired as that? This is why I have so much of a problem with Broadway over Hollywood vis-a-vis revivals/remakes; Hollywood is dammed for doing remakes/revivals, but Broadway is loved for doing them-even when some of these 'remakes' are of stories that don't really fit now, like Miss Saigon.

Hardly comparable. Again Prince of Persia: fictional. Genghis Khan: historical. From a Ethno-genetic standpoint, Jake Gyllenhaal is probably closer to being Persian than John Wayne is to being a Mongol. Gyllenhaal being cast as the Prince of Persia is about as "outrageous" as Chow Yun Fat being cast as the King of Siam.

Except that Chow Yun Fat is Asian, and that worked for him in his favour, even if the story was (and is) wack; nobody had any objections to him being King Mongkut, although most people hated the story because it is historically inacurate.

 

[Out Of My Vulcan Mind]

So no, a big name star is not going to just sell a movie. Were that true, then many of the most recent Jack Nicholson flicks should have been absolute blockbusters.

Well, that's a poor example since Jack Nicholson's recent films have all been very successful. His last five films have made over a billion dollars worldwide combined, a very impressive total for five films outside the realm of mega-budget blockbuster entertainment.

 

[exodus]

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

Face it, a film does not require a big name actor in order to be successful.

Sorry but sure it does.

Prince of Persia is a video game.
How many people 45 and over know what that is?
How many grown women or even young girls, know of the game.
Having a name like Jake's in the lead, gets those butts in the seats. They're banking on sex appeal & popularity to get the non-gaming audience to come out and see this film.

Films like "Last Airbender", their banking on the audiences curiosity to sell it. This controversy is what might sell it because folks are going to want to know what the fuss is about. Just like the curiosity behind the new special effects sold "Star Wars".

Actually, Star Wars was literally laughed out of theaters when the initial trailers played. They had to be re-tooled and then released after a short delay.

I am old enough to remember what a phenomenon the movie was, and it wasn't just the FX that sold it -- it was the story itself and how it was presented.

So no, a big name star is not going to just sell a movie. Were that true, then many of the most recent Jack Nicholson flicks should have been absolute blockbusters.

John, I'm pretty sure were around the same age.
Our perspective of SW, ws very different that those much older. It's my understanding SW got acclaim due to it's beak thru in special EFX. It's also what it won all it's awards for. It's never been hailed for it's story telling because in ways it's similar to Flash Gordon. It's widely known George Lucas almost couldn't sell the script because the major studios found the story awful. They tell you so in nearly every single documentary about the films.

The traliers didn't stop the 4 or 5 star reviews in all but the New York Times re-tooled or not.

 

[Aragorn]

This reminds me of the special interest group that got pissed off over the Shaft remake because Vanessa Williams was playing a character named Vasquez, though there was either a reference to a Hispanic ex-husband or an actual role that was deleted.

 

[Tulin]

There was only ONE Vasquez and she was played by a lilly white Jewish woman with the surname "Goldstein".

 

[stueyross]

How about Said from Lost? He would have been good. But then he'd have killed everyone in the first 5 minutes.

 

[Roshi]

Maybe because the Caucasus is closer to Iran than you might think...

 

[Silent_Bob]

If an actor can pretend to be somebody else from a different place and a different time, why can't he also pretend to be somebody else of a different ethnic group?

Great. So, by that logic, a vaguely brown actor should be able to play Green Lantern. Why is it a white actor? A darker actor should be able to play Spiderman. Why are they only considering white actors? The next Doctor Who could be brown. Right? Why not?

I think you will find barely anyone in the Doctor Who fanbase has any problem at all with the next Doctor being a different ethnicity. Hell a lot of us wanted Patterson Joseph as the next Doctor.

As for the Green Lantern, no idea i'm not familiar with most of the DC characters. Spider-man i'd have no problem with what-so-ever. Peter Parkers character is in no way defined by his skin tone and his story would be no different if he were played by someone who wasn't white. And i think everyone can agree that Michael Clarke Duncan was inspired casting as the Kingpin in 'Daredevil' despite being a different ethnicity to the character in the comics.

As for the actual topic, i'm beginning to think most of you have never actually met, let alone seen an Iranian. Iranian skin tones vary a great deal but just for arguments sake let's compare one of the examples of a better lead given in this thread shall we:

Omid Djalili

or heck lets pretend Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has decided to leave politics and try to make it big in Hollywood

and compare them both to the actual lead

Donnie Darko.

What is more apparent is that those who automatically decried Jake as too white to play an Iranian actually mean he is too white to play the Iranian stereotype they have pictured in their heads.

 

[The Laughing Vulcan]

Why should the Prince of Persia be Persian?

The Queen of England is German!

 

[Dream]

The guy who plays/played Sayid from Lost would be too dark-skinned I guess...?

Definitely. There have been complaints from Arabs that Naveen Andrews is too dark to be Iraqi.

Sayid was too busy being awesome on LOST this season to be in this dumb movie.

 

[Dusty Ayres]

If an actor can pretend to be somebody else from a different place and a different time, why can't he also pretend to be somebody else of a different ethnic group?

Great. So, by that logic, a vaguely brown actor should be able to play Green Lantern. Why is it a white actor? A darker actor should be able to play Spiderman. Why are they only considering white actors? The next Doctor Who could be brown. Right? Why not?

I think you will find barely anyone in the Doctor Who fanbase has any problem at all with the next Doctor being a different ethnicity. Hell a lot of us wanted Patterson Joseph as the next Doctor.

As for the Green Lantern, no idea i'm not familiar with most of the DC characters. Spider-man i'd have no problem with what-so-ever. Peter Parkers character is in no way defined by his skin tone and his story would be no different if he were played by someone who wasn't white. And i think everyone can agree that Michael Clarke Duncan was inspired casting as the Kingpin in 'Daredevil' despite being a different ethnicity to the character in the comics.

As for the actual topic, i'm beginning to think most of you have never actually met, let alone seen an Iranian. Iranian skin tones vary a great deal but just for arguments sake let's compare one of the examples of a better lead given in this thread shall we:

Omid Djalili

or heck lets pretend Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has decided to leave politics and try to make it big in Hollywood

and compare them both to the actual lead

Donnie Darko.

What is more apparent is that those who automatically decried Jake as too white to play an Iranian actually mean he is too white to play the Iranian stereotype they have pictured in their heads.

^^^THIS!!!

 

[Servo]

I bet all you fuckers crying racism over Gyllenhaal playing a Persian, still find Fisher Stevens portrayal of Ben Jahrvi in the Short Circuit films hilarious.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

How about Said from Lost? He would have been good. But then he'd have killed everyone in the first 5 minutes.

And Faran Tahir would only take ONE minute.

 

[Mr. Adventure]

I bet all you fuckers crying racism over Gyllenhaal playing a Persian, still find Fisher Stevens portrayal of Ben Jahrvi in the Short Circuit films hilarious.

Wait, that was supposed to be funny?

 

[Servo]

^ Apparently.

 

[Avon]

a bland and kind of dopey looking actor like gyllenhal seems about right for a silly video game film. what, ben kingsley's in it? could he possibly be evil?

 

[Forbin]

What is more apparent is that those who automatically decried Jake as too white to play an Iranian actually mean he is too white to play the Iranian stereotype they have pictured in their heads.

QFT.
Perfect reply.