Persian Realm

I lose hope for this movie with every update...

Mehdi's fears are not unfounded.
If you could be so kind as to research Ubisoft's forage into the POP series Dr.Kadivar you'd see a prelude to the "300" debacle and more.
Sands of Time was stereotyped yes but it had "positive" stereotypes that portrayed Middle Eastern and Indian cultures with beautiful reverence that wasn't seen in any video game before or since.(That, and it was an awesome game to play.)
Warrior Within, on the other hand, was right at home with Franky's "300" Persians and God of War's Greeks.(Big tits, bad language, rock music, button mashing game play, the works.)Too bad God of War could actually be played without bugs and freezes that the two successors to SOT were riddled with.
Now the newest game in the series has gone full tilt into "Bedouin Land": //www.youtube.com/watch?v=4-rv8BN6ZvU

Jerry Bruckheimer's movie won't have anything to do with those games. Indeed I had much the smae ides for it as you and I've been hoping for a return to the old Sot style of atmosphere. However, the casting of Gemma White-as-a-Nazi's-wet-dream Arterton as an INDIAN princess pretty much shot down all those years of hype in one go.

It's sad that the west is this ignorant about the past, but then again ancient Eranshahr is only the tip of the stupid-burg.(Just look at how we Irish folks are seen in the States.) Being the only American born teenager in my county that knows anything about Iran past it's president's funny and obviously Arabic surname is quite a lonely and frustrating existence. I'll trust in your insight Dr.Kadivar as you might be right in the long run but just be aware that video game to movies have never been huge blockbusters and that Hollywood is never merciful with stereotypes.(No matter how hard they try)

As for me, I think I'll wait for someone who can actually point to Iran on a map to do a serious Persian Fantasy movie, much less actually flip through a couple of Shahnameh poems and realize that they aren't effing Arabs.

PS:Mehdi, you do realize that any filmmaker in Iran who did a movie on that period could be killed for idolizing pre-Islam?

Mehdi-Palang

I do share some of your concerns but Prince of Persia is not really a History movie no more than the latest Indiana Jones is about the Communists.

Read : Indiana angers Russian communists

The Game on which the movie is partially based is more aimed towards entertainment and the movie can at best be an exciting adventure packed spectacle.

If it can draw interest in Iran in the viewers mind in order to learn about its history all the better but rarely do such films meant to be a history or even a cultural lesson to anyone.

Nevertheless The Prince of Persia cannot be viewed with the same negative concern and 300 in that in this film the Prince is the hero of the piece.

My only hope is that they do take into account some architectural and historical accuracy as to the sets and feedback given to the viewers. That will truly depend on the production and the people involved in the making of the movie and their general knowledge.

That said I do hope that the interest and box office success of such films will at least convince our fellow talented Iranian or Iranian American directors to one day suggest a more accurate and visually attractive movie on our history and culture. That can only happen if producers are willing to invest in such stories for in Hollywood it is often a question of who has the money and who can finance such projects.

I believe Cyrus KAR is still trying painstakingly to make a documentary on Cyrus the Great. So imagine the difficulty to make a feature film on the same subject ? ...

Another 300

I don't know why you sound so excited Darius.  This film will probably by stuffed with orientalist-stereotypes that will be comforting to all of those who liked the movie 300.  I doubt the film studio will show any of Iran's Sassanian history, and instead it will rely on pre-formed ideas of how "Persia" should be thought of from the "Western-perspective". 

 Just listen to how they describe the princess' character as fiesty and exotic.  They also call some artefact (sands of time) "a gift from the gods".   Even though in 6th century Iran, Zurvanite Zoroastrianism was the state-religion.  (Zoroastrianism is monotheistic)

[This will most likely be another film which distorts our history and cultue, but what else can we expect?  It's too bad that out of all of the talented directors/film makers  in Tehran, not one of them has made a movie set in Iran during the  Parthian or Sassanian dynasties.]