After a lot of rumoring and speculation, Disney has finally chosen its Prince of Persia. Jake Gyllenhaal will play the lead in Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time, their adaptation of the popular videogames. Opposite him will be Gemma Aterton, who also plays a pivotal role in the next Bond movie Quantum of Solace.

Gyllenhaal’s character is Dastan, a sixth century prince who, with help from a princess named Tamina (Aterton) fights to prevent a villainous noble from possessing a talisman called the Sands of Time, which control reverse time and make him ruler of the world. It sounds kind of like Aladdin, but with time travel instead of a giant snake. Is there a genie? Help me out if you’ve played the games.

Mike Newell is still directing from a script by Doug Miro, Carlo Bernard, Boaz Yankin, and Jordan Mechner (who created the game). They plan to start shooting this summer in Morocco and London, targeting a release in summer of 2009.

Gyllenhaal’s casting was reported a few weeks ago by the guys over at LR, but until now we've had no official confirmation. Jake is one of the few major Hollywood actors who hasn’t gotten embroiled in one of these big, genre, summer franchises so I suppose he was due. I wonder how they’re going to pull off making him look Persian? Time to get those pasty thighs in a tanning booth Jake.