Many actors have to get in specific shape for a specific project, but perhaps few will go all the way there, like, say, Christian Bale, Joaquin Phoenix, Natalie Portman, or Jake Gyllenhall. Like Bale, Gyllenhaal is what you might call a repeat offender.
After dropping more than 30 pounds by more or less starving himself for Nightcrawler, Gyllenhaal will be seen at his most buff in Road House, a remake of the 1989 Patrick Swayze classic of the same name.
He plays the role of Dalton, a retired UFC fighter who ends up working as a bouncer in a roadhouse in the Florida Keys, and training for the part involved an elaborate program including a personal trainer, a dietician, a personal chef, and elaborate stunt choreography spreading for more than a year before production even started. It also included a canary-yellow Ferrari, as strange as that might sound.
Road House starts streaming today, March 21, on Amazon Prime, so Gyllenhaal has been doing the media rounds to promote it. His nemesis in the film is Dixon, played by none other than MMA champ Conor McGregor, looking his meanest but still unable to completely shake off his Irish accent in his film feature debut.
Photo: YouTube/Amazon Prime
Dixon drives a car as flamboyant as himself: a canary-yellow Ferrari 488 Spider seen briefly in the first official trailer traveling at breakneck speeds on the highway while Dixon is acting like a maniac behind the wheel. That's the same car that Gyllenhaal used for his training, as he stole it from the movie set "Flintstones style."
The actor stopped by Good Morning America to talk about the film and inevitably had to take questions about his training regime. The most challenging part was not building muscle but learning to move like a fighter for the action scenes, he said. He also joked that "anyone" could do it, as long as they bought a Ferrari and just pulled and pushed it from place to place.
He was talking about a video he'd posted to Instagram six weeks ago, in which he joked about stealing Conor's car from the movie set by simply pushing it away. McGregor responded at the time by urging him to bring it back because he'd worked hard for the money he paid it with. It was all in good jest, of course: McGregor's lavish garage includes several Ferraris but not a single yellow 488 Spider, as far as we know.
Free publicity aside, Gyllenhaal's fitness feat is nothing to scoff at. A 488 Spider comes with a curb weight of 3,362 lbs (1,525 kg), so stealing one Flintstones style only looks easy when someone as buff as he does it.
Road House is directed by Doug Liman (Bourne Identity, Mr. & Mrs. Smith) and promises to deliver plenty of action of all kinds. In between punches and bodyslams, you can catch a look at Dixon's Ferrari and some nice speedboat action below.
Elena has been writing for a living since 2006 and, as a journalist, she has put her double major in English and Spanish to good use. She covers automotive and mobility topics like cars and bicycles, and she always knows the shows worth watching on Netflix and friends. Full profile
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