Our eyes met for a brief nanosecond, and I could feel my knees turning to jelly. Fortunately for Jake Gyllenhaal we were in a room full of press, otherwise I might have been tempted to leap across and give him a big sloppy kiss. Because I’m happy to report that in the flesh he is absolutely gorgeous – easygoing smile, lovely eyes and a fantastic sense of humour (my favourite quote of the afternoon: ‘I’ve always really wanted to play a prince – some people might say I am in a lot of ways a princess.’)
The occasion was the press conference for Disney's Prince of Persia, and in addition to Jake, Gemma Arterton was also there (absolutely lovely and SO pretty, *sob*), and the wonderful Sir Ben Kingsley. Plus the legend that is Jerry Bruckheimer, and director Mike Newell. Needless to say I was VERY excited.
Before the conference we were treated to a screening of the film which I enjoyed – it’s a real swashbuckling epic, with blood, guts and sand, romance and drama. There are lots of laughs, too (Alfred Molina is particularly genius).
And Jake? Well Jake is superb, of course. He doesn’t just look the part (although it has to be said he does sport a very impressive six pack – who knew?) and even though he adopts an English accent that sounds as though he’s been hanging out in Albert Square for much of the movie he makes a totally believable action hero.
Later that evening I took the kids to see the movie. They loved it too, declaring it ‘awesome’, although the girls were a bit disappointed that Gemma’s character, Princess Tamina, starts off feisty and ends up soppy over Jake. But let’s face it, you so would, wouldn’t you?
*Prince of Persia is released on Friday
written by Liz Jarvis