It seems that Jack Gyllenhaal has been cast as the titular royal in “Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time”, a joint Disney and Jerry Bruckheimer produced movie adapted from the classic video game of the same name, E! online reports. Mike Newell is directing the film, while Doug Miro, Carlo Bernard, Jordan Mechner and Boaz Yakin wrote the script.

Gyllenhaal will star as Dastan, a young prince in the sixth century Persia, who must join forces with Tamina (Gemma Arterton), an exotic princess, in order to prevent a villainous nobleman from possessing the Sands of Time, a gift from the gods that can reverse time and permits its owner to rule the world.

“We’ve been fairly fortunate with some our leading ladies,” Bruckheimer said, quoted by the Hollywood Reporter. “Some of them have gone on to become major movie stars, going back to Nicole Kidman in a movie I did a long time ago called ‘Days of Thunder’ to Keira Knightley out of (‘Pirates of the Caribbean’),” he added.

Jake Gyllenhaal is due to appear in Jim Sheridan’s “Brothers” along with Tobey Maguire. He is repped by CAA and Management 360.

“Prince of Persia” became a lucrative franchise for gamemaker Ubisoft, which released the first title in 1989.  Production of the movie is set to start in July in Morocco and England. Before Gyllenhaal got the part, Orlando Bloom and Zac Efron were rumored for the role.