Bruckheimer/Bay Teaming up for Prince of Persia Film?

Director Michael Bay (pictured left) will helm the upcoming Jerry Bruckheimer-produced film adaptation of Ubisoft Montreal's 2003 game Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time, movie news site IESB.net reports. The site claims to have confirmed with Walt Disney Studios that Bay is expected to direct, though the plan does not appear to be finalized. Bay is currently directing the live-action Transformers film adaptation. If he does sign on for Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time, shooting will commence after Transformers wraps, with a release set for summer 2009. Action movie mega-producer Bruckheimer frequently calls on Bay to man the director's post in his films, with the pair having previously collaborated on Bad Boys, Bad Boys II, Armageddon, and Pearl Harbor. Prince of Persia creator Jordan Mechner, who also wrote and designed the underappreciated 1997 nonlinear adventure game The Last Express and has written and directed several film documentaries, provided the first draft of the film's screenplay. Jeffrey Nachmanoff, a screenwriter on The Big Gig and The Day After Tomorrow, is handling further revisions. The film's story is said to be loosely based on the game's, retaining the elements of the evil vizier seeking to control the sands of time, and the presence of the princess-turned-sidekick Farah. When the film was first announced in 2004, Mechner commented, "Rather than do a straight beat-for-beat adaptation of the new videogame, we're taking some cool elements from the game and using them to craft a new story--much as 'Pirates' did with the theme park ride." Last month, Disney released three pieces of concept art and a logo treatment for the film (linked below).

According to Australian publication Hyper, Australian actor Charlie Clausen has signed on to play the lead role of the Persian prince; Clausen is also listed in the film's IMDb entry. No casting information has been officially confirmed.