There aren't many actors who can say they've graced the canvas of the UFC Octagon.
Like Kevin James in 2011's “Here Comes the Boom,” Jake Gyllenhaal had the “honor” of stepping into the lead role in “Roadhouse.” In the 1989 remake, Gyllenhaal plays Elwood Dalton, a former MMA fighter who runs into all kinds of trouble while defending a roadhouse in the Florida Keys.
With Irish fighter Conor McGregor as his co-star, the UFC has brought some big guns to the table, including Gyllenhaal and others. He filmed his own UFC debut at UFC 285 in front of a live audience. The actor faced off against two-time UFC fighter Jay Hiron in a wildly choreographed fight.
Jake Gyllenhaal brutally knocks out middleweight champion and wins #UFC285 pic.twitter.com/lk1jRUg52Q
— Chisanga Malata (@Chisanga_Malata) March 5, 2023
Fast forward a year later to the film's premiere at the SXSW festival on Friday, and Gyllenhaal reflected on what it was like to film the once-in-a-lifetime experience.
“that [was] It should be in [UFC] 283 and was infected with the new coronavirus the night before. So I prepared for that game and then I had to wait two months and I made plans for 285 games. So I was kind of in that mental state while filming, and I definitely felt that way physically,” Gyllenhaal told MMA Junkie. “Like I was training and preparing every day, at some point as an actor you have to convince yourself of that, you know?”
“At the end of the day, it was the energy of the crowd. As soon as you felt that crowd and felt that you were holding your camera and you were ready to come out, it was like you realized, you knew it all along. I feel like I was there, but I didn't really realize it until that moment. There. It's a sacred space, the Octagon. People can't go in there unless they actually fight. And being there, It was a real honor for me to be able to do that. So I took it pretty seriously. But at the same time, I was also doing live performances on stage and stuff, so there were some similarities… …They don't look alike. [to UFC] Not at all,” Gyllenhaal said with a laugh.
Gyllenhaal has played a huge number of different roles throughout his tenure in Hollywood, appearing in all kinds of movies from Donnie Darko to Spider-Man: Far From Home. Of course, the American actor did his homework before stepping out into the Octagon and hearing the roar of the UFC 285 crowd.
“You just have to be focused and you can do that before any live event,” Gyllenhaal continued. “You have to focus on the job at hand. I just tried to emulate what I had seen, studying other fighters, studying their strikes. Those too. No. And you start to realize that it's really an individual thing and that each individual doesn't have to seem so tough. They come out the way they want to come out, and they're ferocious, but anyway. It's ferocious. At the end of the day, it was just a crazy honor. It's one of the great things I can pinch myself to do in life.”
From the movie industry to the UFC and back, Gyllenhaal was happy to see the crossover between himself and “white belt” actor Conor McGregor occur.
“Bringing these two worlds together was also the opposite purpose of this film. And I think we all had a huge respect for fighting games.
“It was the same thing when Connor came to the movie set. He came in and said, 'I'm a white belt, I'm here to learn.' I want to learn because I don't know anything about film production or acting. ” So I tried to bring that kind of humility into that space on the other side as well. I don't know much about fighting games, but I really respect them and wanted to learn. ”
Watch Jake Gyllenhaal and Conor McGregor square off in Doug Liman's 'Road House,' streaming March 21 on Prime Video.
