Most of us don’t really think about who will be cast in a given movie until the cast is announced, unless we really care about the movie in question. But for the studios charged with adapting a popular title into what will hopefully be an even more popular movie, casting is a big gamble. What if you cast someone no one likes? What if you cast an unknown and therefore no one cares?

It looks like the production company behind the Prince of Persia: Sands of Time movie is taking their casting very seriously. IESB.net got a hold of surveys that asked moviegoers worldwide who they would prefer to see as the Prince. Beating out known names like Orlando Bloom, James McAvoy and Zac Efron is one name that I’ve never heard of, but now that I’ve had the benefit of seeing the guy’s picture (as the survey respondents did) he seems pretty much a lock.

The guy in question is David Zandi, who, get this, is actually a Prince of Persia. Well, he’s a member of the Iranian royal family, and since Iran was originally Persia and Iranians often consider themselves Persian… same difference. He’s acted in basically nothing, but he’s involved in Hollywood as a producer, and presumably was noticed by the filmmakers for his striking good looks rather than his filmmaking prowess.

A whopping 70% of international respondents and 60% of American respondents thought Zandi should get the part; a strange number of Americans (14%) voted for Steven Strait—had they just seen 10,000 B.C. or something? Over half of respondents in both surveys said he should be cast because he looks like the prince, rather than being a fan of his previous work. Given that his two previous acting roles were uncredited parts in Men in Black II and Marci X, that’s no surprise.

Given the overwhelming support for this guy, and the fact that casting an unknown actor is way cheaper than casting, say, Zac Efron, it’ll be surprising if we don’t see Zandi sitting in the Prince’s throne sometime soon. Mike Newell has already begun pre-production on the film, so look for casting announcements soon.