Not many actors can say they have graced the canvas of the UFC Octagon.
Like Kevin James in 2011’s ‘Here Comes The Boom’, Jake Gyllenhaal had the ‘honor’ of entering the cage for his lead role in ‘Road House’. The 1989 remake stars Gyllenhaal as Elwood Dalton, a former MMA fighter who runs into all kinds of trouble while protecting a roadhouse in the Florida Keys.
With fighting Irishman Conor McGregor as his co-star, the UFC brought out the big guns and let Gyllenhaal and co. film his very own UFC debut at UFC 285 in front of a live audience. The actor faced two-time UFC fighter Jay Hieron in a wild, choreographed fight.
Fast forward a year later to the movie’s premiere at the SXSW Festival on Friday, Gyllenhaal has recalled what it was like filming the once-in-a-lifetime experience.
“It [was] supposed to be at [UFC] 283 and then had COVID the night before. So we had prepped for that fight and then had to wait two months, and then we planned for 285. So, throughout the shooting I was sort of in that mentality and physically I definitely felt that way,” Gyllenhaal told MMA Junkie. “Like I had training every day and getting ready, so at a certain point you have to convince yourself that stuff as an actor, you know?”
“Ultimately in the end, it was the energy of the crowd. Like as soon as I could feel that crowd and you had the camera on you and you’re about ready to come out, it’s like I realized, and I think I knew this before, but I didn’t really feel it until I was in there. That’s a sacred space: the Octagon. Like, people don’t get to go in there unless they’re actually fighting. And to be able to, to be in there and do that was really an honor for me. So, I took it pretty seriously. But at the same time, I perform live on stage and things like that, so there were elements that were somewhat similar though… nothing similar [to UFC] at all,” Gyllenhaal realized and laughed.
Gyllenhaal’s been in all sorts of movies from Donnie Darko to Spiderman: Far From Home, navigating so many different roles throughout his tenure in Hollywood. The American actor of course did his homework before walking out to the Octagon and hearing roar of the crowd at UFC 285.
“There’s just a focus and you have that before any sort of live event,” Gyllenhaal continued. “You gotta focus on the task at hand. I just tried to emulate what I’ve seen and studied other fighters and study those walkouts. They’re also different. Then, you start to realize that, it is really about the individual and each individual doesn’t have to be like, come out like so tough. They come out however they wanna come out and they’re fierce, however they’re fierce. Ultimately, it was just a crazy honor. It’s one of those amazing things that I pinch myself in my life that I get to do.”
From the movie industry to the UFC and vice-versa, Gyllenhaal was glad the crossover happened for him and ‘white belt’ thespian Conor McGregor.
“Bringing those two worlds together was what this movie does too, in the opposite end. Like, I came to that, I came to the fight game as like bringing movies there, and that had a really, I thought it was a fantastic response, it was super fun. But, I think we all had great respect for the fight game in that.
“The same thing with Conor when he came to the movie set. He came in and he said, ‘I’m a white belt, I’m here to learn. I don’t know anything about making movies or acting and I wanna learn’. So, that type of humility in that space, I tried to bring in the same way, in the opposite end. I don’t know that much about the fight game and I have great respect for it, and I wanted to learn.”
Watch Jake Gyllenhaal and Conor McGregor go head-to-head in Doug Liman’s ‘Road House’ on Mar. 21, which streams on Prime Video.
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