Jake Gyllenhaal Regrets Starring In This Disney Fantasy Movie That Never Got A Sequel

Plenty of actors come to regret passing on a movie. Leonardo DiCaprio missed out on "Boogie Nights" and came to regret it, and we all know the story of Will Smith and "The Matrix." But sometimes, actors regret accepting a role in a movie. There are many reasons an actor might take on a role: lack of other options, the opportunity to work with a specific crew or director, or the chance to get a bigger paycheck and prove they can be a bonafide blockbuster movie star.

Like those other performers, Jake Gyllenhaal is not immune to career mistakes. Though he's a fantastic actor who made a name for himself in some of the best indie and genre movies of the 2000s and 2010s, he's had some less-than-stellar encounters with the summer blockbuster. Specifically, Gyllenhaal was the lead in one of the worst video game adaptations of all time, the 2010 movie "Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time." Based on the video game series of the same name by Jordan Mechner, the film was mediocre and forgettable. The choice to cast Gyllenhaal as a Persian prince was not just problematic, but the actor was wasted as a would-be swashbuckler with little charisma.

Speaking with Yahoo Entertainment, Gyllenhaal once talked about the controversial video game adaptation and what he took from it with a tinge of regret in his words. "I think I learned a lot from that movie in that I spend a lot of time trying to be very thoughtful about the roles that I pick and why I'm picking them," Gyllenhaal explained. "And you're bound to slip up and be like, 'That wasn't right for me,' or 'That didn't fit perfectly.' There have been a number of roles like that. And then a number of roles that do."

"Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time" did have some things going for it. The Jerry Bruckheimer production had some swashbuckling action and swordplay, but in addition to its problematic casting, the issue was that the film was simply not fun enough. Even though there are some references to the games, the movie doesn't do much to capture the kinetic action and physicality of the source material. Even the equally maligned "Assassin's Creed" movie still has fans thanks to the way it captures the action of the games.

As for Gyllenhaal, he mostly stayed out of the blockbuster landscape after the failure of "Prince of Persia" — but not out of genre movies. Just a year later, he starred in the much better timeloop film "Source Code," and later went on an incredible three-movie thriller run with "Prisoners," "Enemy," and "Nightcrawler." Gyllenhaal has made a name for himself as a great player in mid-budget movies like "Ambulance" and "Nocturnal Animals," and it's easy to see how the underwhelming reaction to "Prince of Persia" may have turned him off of blockbusters.

After Jake Gyllenhaal nearly replaced Tobey Maguire in Sam Raimi's "Spider-Man 2," he did make a return to blockbusters over 15 years later to star in another web-slinging movie: "Spider-Man: Far From Home." Of course, that movie was much better received and performed a lot better than "Prince of Persia," and crucially, Gyllenhaal was not playing the lead role in it and therefore didn't have the weight of the whole movie on his shoulders. If recent history is any indication, don't expect him to lead any mega-budgeted blockbusters again any time soon.