Jake Gyllenhaal signs up for Prince of Persia

Jake Gyllenhaal is set to play the lead role in the Disney adaptation of hit videogame Prince of Persia.

The Donnie Darko star will play the sixth-century prince Dastan in the Mike Newell-directed movie, which will go into production in London and Morocco this July.

British actress Gemma Atherton will play feisty princess Tamina, starring alongside Gyllenhaal to prevent the all-powerful Sands of Time falling into the hands of an evil nobleman.

Speaking to the Hollywood Reporter, the movie's producer Jerry Bruckheimer said that Atherton is star in the making.

"We've been fairly fortunate with some our leading ladies," he said.

"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]."

Though unwilling to elaborate of the movie's budget, Newell said: "It's not one of our smaller productions."

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