Mike Newell may direct Prince Of Persia

For a long time, Jerry Bruckheimer has had his eye on regular collaborator Michael Bay to direct the adaptation of Prince Of Persia: The Sands Of Time.

But with the explosion-happy helmer busy with little films about big robots, Bruckheimer has had to turn elsewhere. And one of his first choices is Mike Newell. He’s not exactly who you might guess first to be tackling a blockbuster based on a video game (he did, after all, just direct Love In The Time Of Cholera), but he has dabbled in big effects films before, stepping behind the camera for Harry Potter And The Goblet Of Fire.

And he’s certainly a director of many talents, so we’re sure he’d bring something great to the Persia story, which finds our hero dealing with nasty, magical villains and displaying some of his own skills. But Newell hasn’t sat down in the big folding chair yet – he’s still negotiating.

Fortunately given the current strike-flavoured conditions in Hollywood, the film does at least have a script ready to go, penned by Jeffrey Nachmanoff and Jordan Mechner, who created the original game. That said, Disney isn’t planning to shove the thing into production just yet…