The Big Picture

Collider’s Steve Weintraub talks with Jake Gyllenhaal about his new movie, the ’80s remake,
Road House
, on Prime Video.
Gyllenhaal talks about training, working with UFC fighter Conor McGregor, and how this movie compares to his 2015 role in
Southpaw
.
Gyllenhaal also expresses interest in returning for a potential
Road House
sequel and weighs in on who would win in a fight, him or Patrick Swayze’s Dalton from the original

Prime Video’s action-packed remake, Road House, from director Doug Liman (Edge of Tomorrow), brings the pain with larger-than-life characters inspired by the ’80s classic starring Patrick Swayze. This reimagining offers fans of the original a stylized fight movie that doesn’t hold its punches, and Collider’s Steve Weintraub had the opportunity to sit down with Jake Gyllenhaal, who plays Elwood Dalton this time around.

In the movie, Dalton is a UFC star who’s fallen from grace. Down on his luck, he’s offered a position as a bouncer for a roadhouse in the Florida Keys. Frankie, played by Jessica Williams (Shrinking), needs someone to defend her bar from the local motorcycle gangs. The violence goes beyond roughhousing and rough-around-the-edges characters, and Frankie will need Dalton’s help to secure her establishment from Ben Brandt’s (Billy Magnussen) criminal empire. Road House also stars real-life UFC star Conor McGregor, award-winning rapper, singer, and producer Post Malone, Daniela Melchior (Fast X), and more.

Check out the interview with Gyllenhaal in the video above or in the transcript below to find out who the actor believes would win in a Dalton face-off, him or Swayze. He also discusses training, working with McGregor and what they learned from one another, how filming this compares to Antoine Fuqua’s Southpaw (2015), and if he’d return for a Road House sequel.

Road House (2024) An ex-UFC middleweight fighter ends up working at a rowdy bar in the Florida Keys where things are not as they seem.Release Date March 21, 2024 Cast Jake Gyllenhaal , conor mcgregor , Daniela Melchior , Billy Magnussen , Jessica Williams , Darren Barnet , JD Pardo , Arturo Castro , Joaquim De Almeida , Lukas Gage , Beau Knapp Writers Anthony Bagarozzi , Chuck Mondry , R. Lance Hill Studio(s) Amazon MGM Studios , Silver Pictures Distributor(s) Prime Video

Who Would Win in a ‘Road House’ Showdown – Patrick Swayze or Jake Gyllenhaal?
Image via United Artists

COLLIDER: The most important question up front, and I want you to be honest with this: if Patrick Swayze’s Dalton and your Dalton were to get in a real fight, who wins?

JAKE GYLLENHAAL: Well, we all know that size doesn’t matter right from that movie, right? That is a line from the movie, the original movie, right, Steve? You remember that line, right?

Yes.

GYLLENHAAL: [Laughs] Okay, good. Well, he’d certainly dance the shit out of it, so I couldn’t win there. I think, due to technology and the advancements in technology, I’m going to say that I think that my Dalton would win. But if we were face-to-face in the ‘80s, I’d give it to Patrick.

Right, so it depends on the decade.

GYLLENHAAL: It depends on the decade, and I would just say no one ever wins a fight, Steve.

[Laughs] Sure.

Jake Gyllenhaal Had to Remind Conor McGregor Not to Punch Him

One of the things about this is you have a lot of action in this, and no matter how safe you are, it’s still a dance when you’re doing action. So, how many times did you actually get hit in the face?

GYLLENHAAL: I mean, a good number. I wasn’t counting, I think that’d be odd, but I definitely got hit in the face and all over the place. I think I took more hits to the body and kicks to the body. When I did this film Southpaw, I was just taking hits to the body, like punches. Now I’m taking kicks, hits, getting choked out. I mean, MMA is a whole other game. So, I would say the hardest thing for me and the thing that I got the most injured with was some of the throwing, grappling stunts that we did. I got thrown over the bar by Conor. I’m always like, “Can we get the really thick pad?” And they’re like, “You’ll be fine.” I got thrown over the bar many, many times in this. That’s where I really sustained the injuries you’re asking about.

There is not any amount of money that could get me in a fight scene with Conor because all you need is for him to just flip it on at any moment and you’re done. It’s over.

GYLLENHAAL: Yeah, and I think that that allows for a level of respect, and I think, vice versa, we had that because I could really act him out of the room, you know what I mean? No, I think that there was a real respect back and forth for that. He said to me, “I’m a white belt in the movie game and in acting, and I’m here to learn,” and I said, “I’m here to learn from you. I’m a white belt in the fight game. I’m here to learn.” So as much as you’re right, the switch could go, I think he has such a respect for film, for movies, for the process of movies. He definitely showed that on set. Weirdly, I know this may sound strange, but a professional fighter has a real gauge of distance in a way that nobody else does, and so sometimes I felt safer knowing that he could judge. But I did have to remind him, take after take, I did have to say, “Remember, we’re rolling,” and I’d say, “Remember, don’t actually punch me in the face.” And occasionally he’d go, “Oh, right, right, right.” And that kind of, like, “Oh, I almost forgot,” moment — definitely cause for concern. [Laughs]

Everything about this is why just no.

Jake Gyllenhaal Is Down for a ‘Road House’ Sequel
Image via Amazon MGM Studios

Say it’s a big hit on Prime Video, is this the kind of role that you’d like to revisit? Patrick actually never made a sequel, but is this the kind of thing that you would like to do again?

GYLLENHAAL: I would love to. I love the role, I love the character. I love his humor. I love where he could go. The first thing I ever read in the script was the scene where he asked about insurance, if they have insurance, asked if their bikes are outside, and the essence of that character is there, and there’s so much more to explore in that space. So, yeah.

I don’t think you’re going to look forward to the training, but the role, yes.

GYLLENHAAL: I do like the training, but that’s just me.

Road House is available to stream on Prime Video in the U.S.

Watch on Prime