Mike Newell admits that he always had Jake Gyllenhaal in mind for Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time.
Newell is back in the director's chair next week with the release of Prince of Persia, his first movie since Love In The Time of Cholera.
The director is no stranger to the big budget blockbuster having helmed Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire in 2005 but he only wanted to cast Gyllenhaal in the central role of Prince Dastan.
Speaking to iesb.net the filmmaker said: "I read the script, knowing that I was going to give a talk to Disney about the whole way that I wanted to make the movie and I knew that I should have somebody in my head.
"So, very early on, I started to think about young actors that I knew, and I kept coming back to Jake. I'd seen lots of his movies. I'd actually known him when he was a kid, and he simply kept coming back.
"I knew he would be a rebel, and I needed a rebel. I needed a kid who'd come off the streets and who had been taken into a royal family, but wasn't royal blood. And, I thought that he had a wonderful comic sense.
"I loved the notion of him playing comedy. Of course, he's very handsome and his acting is beyond doubt.
"What I didn't know was whether he could become an action hero, but he took that on in spades. He had an English accent, and the work that he did was phenomenal.
Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time could be one of the biggest grossing movies of the summer but Newell already has a couple of projects in the pipeline, linked to The Elfstones of Shannara and The Box of Delights.
Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time is released 21st May.
Tagged in Mike Newell Jake Gyllenhaal