Holy Prince of Persia! Jake Gyllenhaal may be headlining another video game adaptation. Per Variety, Ubisoft is currently in talks with the Oscar nominated actor to star, as well as produce, a film version of the popular third-person shooter game Tom Clancy’s The Division. The property doesn’t yet have a director or a screenwriter attached or a distributor lined up, but that may change soon if Gyllenhaal’s involvement becomes solidified.
The story behind the game centers around a dystopic New York City in the throes of a smallpox pandemic. In the game, the player is an agent of the Strategic Homeland Division – or just “The Division” – whose mission is to help rebuild operations and discover the root cause of the small outbreak as well as thwart crimes that have sprung from it. Ubisoft, with aid from Red Storm Entertainment, recently released the game across multiple platforms and early estimate peg the game has earned $330 million in the past five days.
For Gyllenhaal, The Division is another opportunity to lead a potential franchise – notably the actor tried that very thing with the 2010 bomb Prince of Persia. Since then, the actor has appeared in mostly modestly scaled films (Prisoners, Nightcrawler, Southpaw) and showcased his range and utility as a performer, a nod that has been met with respective critical approval. He was last seen on screen in the Fox Searchlight film Demolition opposite Naomi Watts and co-stars in Tom Ford’s upcoming title Nocturnal Animals alongside Amy Adams. Next year, Gyllenhaal will star in David Gordon Green’s Stronger, centering around the Boston Marathon bombing that occurred in 2013. Also set for next year, is Okja, a new science fiction film from Snowpiercer filmmaker Joon-ho Bong and Life co-starring Rebecca Ferguson and Ryan Reynolds.
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