AssetID: 53022757
Headline: UNCAPTIONED: Jake Gyllenhaal's new children's book includes Prince of Persia reference
Caption: Jake Gyllenhaal's new children's book features a sneaky nod to his 2010 movie flop Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time. While speaking to Entertainment Weekly, the Donnie Darko star revealed that the illustrator for his newly-released children's book, The Secret Society of Aunts and Uncles, referenced the video game adaptation in its design. "That was Dan Santat. He snuck that in before printing, and I didn't approve that," Jake joked about the Easter egg. "I don't know where that came from.". The Secret Society of Aunts and Uncles, which was released on Tuesday, follows a 10-year-old aspiring dancer on an adventure with his uncle. On a page depicting the boy struggling to dance in front of a crowd, one audience member holds a playbill for a show titled The Persians. "Dan likes to put in his bits of humour, even misspelling my name at the back and having to put a post-it, having two A's at the end,". "But no, when I described that space, it was the space where there was no farther down to go than the depths of where Leo is in that moment in the book. So I guess that was Dan's joke on me.". Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time was criticised for whitewashing upon its release, as Jake was cast over a performer of Iranian descent. In 2019, Jake admitted to Yahoo Entertainment that the project was a "slip up" and the role was ultimately not right for him. "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. 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." THIS VIDEO MUST NOT BE EDITED FOR LENGTH TO COMBINE WITH OTHER CONTENT
Keywords: Jake Gyllenhaal,New,Children,Book,Includes,Prince of Persia,Reference,The Sands of Time,Movie,Film,Character,The Secret Society of Aunts and Uncles,Video Game,Adaptation,Actor,Iranian,Whitewashing
PersonInImage: