How Jake Gyllenhaal Worked Out to Transform into the Prince of Persia

A new movie, Prince of Persia, comes out in the summer of 2010 which stars Jake Gyllenhaal.  Since he began acting, Jake Gyllenhaal has really risen as a star in his own right. With parents both in the industry (one is a director, the other a produce/screenwriter), it's no surprise that Jake has been acting in films since he was 11.

The first independent film that I remember him starring on is Donnie Darko which came out in 2001.  The plot of Donnie Darko involved a troubled teenager who experienced visions in which a giant rabbit told him to commit crimes. Even though this movie was very strange, in gained a cult-like following when it was released on DVD. Of course, how can I forget his role on "Brokeback Mountain," where he plays a homosexual farmhand who had a relationship with Heath Ledger.  I actually saw this movie with two of my male college roommates who were total film geeks. By the way, they are both totally straight. Back to the subject: Jake Gyllenhaal.

One of my favorite Jake films was 2005's "Jarhead." This film really made me take notice of him for the first time. This was Jake's first ever role where I also noticed how athletic looking he was which complemented his Marine uniform.   Judging from his physique back then which you can see from some pictures taken in between takes in Jarhead, he must have gained another 15-20 lbs of muscle in preparation for Prince of Persia.

Prince of Persia Background

Gyllenhaal really did pull all the stops in terms of physically preparing for his role as the Prince of Persia.  This movie was an adaptation from a Ubisoft videogame  and features a warrior prince who, together with a princess, fight against dark forces who are after a dagger which is capable of turning back time.  This movie is backed by Disney so you can expect a lot of amazing effects.  Jake talked about his role in "Prince of Persia" with Entertainment Tonight and he replied, "I over-prepared myself [physically] because I never knew how much they were going to ask me to do, so I just made sure I’d be hopefully able to do anything.”

Ubisoft most like planned the release of the sequel to "The Sands of Time" which is called "The Forgotten Sands" to come out in the same month as the movie. Here is a quick preview of the new game which comes out in the same month as the movie in May 2010.



These type of trailers brings back fond memories of when I used to watch my brother play his role playing games like Resident Evil and Tomb Raider. It amazes me how movie-like these game trailers look today.

Preparing for the Prince of Persia Role

Jake's Prince of Persia workout routine started in July 2009 with Simon Waterson.  Waterson, who is a former Royal Marine, is responsible for training the lead actors for the previous five James Bond movies, including Daniel Craig and Pierce Brosnan. When asked about Gyllenhaal's training, Waterson replied, "There's an increasing fusion between the worlds of fitness and film. Most actors are athletes nowadays. Their fitness is a big factor in whether they get cast or not,” he says. “Jake has to look like a warrior capable of sword-fighting, not like he's been hitting the gym. He is working out twice, sometimes three times a day, six days a week, for three to four months on top of stunt rehearsals before filming begins.”



Regarding stunt rehearsals, Jake went through Parkour style training.  Most people haven't heard of Parkour before - it is similar to free running, in that it involves jumping or running from building to building or other man-made structures. Since Jake needed a lot of body weight strength to perform his stunts, this type of training was ideal. Here is a great video on Parkour:



When Gyllenhaal was asked about his Parkour training at the Wondercon, an annual comic book, science fiction, motion picture conference in San Francisco he said, "Well, I'm going to stress this – I tried everything, but I didn't always succeed at everything. So what I didn't succeed at, someone else had to pull it off. But it was difficult, but also really fun. I mean when you get parkour down, or the essential idea of parkour, it really is an extraordinary sport because there's an ease to it and it ends up not feeling that hard."

For Prince of Persia, Jake Gyllenhaal worked out for 2-3 times a day along with Parkour for 4 months to achieve his warrior-like physique. If you can see from his Prince of Persia picture, Jake does not look as ripped as Robert Downey Jr. in Iron Man 2 but this is most likely intentional.  Since his character would not have access to a gym, his body has to look more natural. Of course, proper nutrition also plays a role in creating his rugged look.