Conor McGregor And Jake Gyllenhaal Mentored Each Other On The Set Of Road House
While it could be argued that the 1989 Patrick Swayze movie "Road House" can't be improved because it is a perfect movie, Doug Liman and Jake Gyllenhaal are giving it their best shot. In an attempt to give it a little fighting world authenticity, they also brought in Irish mixed martial artist and boxer Conor McGregor. A former Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) champion in two separate weight classes, McGregor is making his acting debut in the "Road House" reboot, while Gyllenhaal's character, Elwood Dalton, is a former UFC fighter. As a result, the two had the opportunity to learn a lot from one another, and according to interviews in the latest issue of Total Film magazine, they took advantage of it.
Though fighters often talk a big game about their skills, McGregor was apparently quite honest about his acting experience, which Gyllenhaal really appreciated:
"He said from the very beginning, which I was moved by, 'I'm a white belt in this, and I'm here to learn. So I want to learn about making movies.' I said, 'Well, I may be lower than a white belt. I'm here to learn as well.' We started from that place."
Gyllenhaal and McGregor really hit it off, according to the actors, which led McGregor to note that with Gyllenhaal's acting experience and his own fighting experience, they "just blended together." He said that they played to one another's strengths and "needed each other for it," which is rather sweet from a man best known for pounding people into pulp.
The fighter and the actor
Shooting "Road House" was a little scary for the actors working opposite McGregor; when the average actor forgets to pull a punch it's one thing, but when a professional fighter does it, it's something entirely different. "I was scared s**tless," co-star Lukas Cage told Total Film. "I was like, 'Please, Conor McGregor, don't accidentally hit me. Please, whatever you do, do not accidentally hit me in the face.'"
Thankfully, good back-and-forth communication between McGregor and his co-stars helped keep everyone feeling more comfortable. Gyllenhaal said that while he had to remind McGregor to make sure to pull his punches, the fighter helped him in other ways:
"There were a couple of times — actually, almost every time — I had to turn to him, and I'd be like, 'Remember, you don't actually hit me.' He was like, 'OK, let's go!' But then there were times we were grappling, and he's talking to me while we were grappling. He's like, 'Right arm under. Wrap your leg around me. Now pull me up, through the legs.' So there was a real exchange. He came up to me, and he was like, 'I did that last take. What did you think of that? Was it a bit too big?' I'd be like, 'Well, you have that. Try this.' There was a real back-and-forth between us, and a deep respect for both of our primary occupations."
That deep respect sounds like it helped them make filming safer and made the movie even better, with more intense action. Whether or not Gyllenhaal's character will rip a guy's throat out with his bare hands has yet to be determined, but this fan hopes they stayed faithful to at least that part of the original.
"Road House" is set to debut on Prime Video on March 21, 2024. (You can check out the trailer here, if this is the first you've even heard of it.)