‘The movie never takes itself too seriously’
◆ As Doug Liman’s Road House comes to Prime Video, Rachael Davis chats to stars Jake Gyllenhaal and Lukas Gage about the action-packed fighting fun
Despite Road House being a film packed to the rafters with fighting, violence, action and high-octane moments, it was the calmness and control of otherwise-violent protagonist Dalton that had star Jake Gyllenhaal hooked.
Gyllenhaal – known for roles in Donnie Darko, Brokeback Mountain, Nightcrawler and Spiderman: Far From Home – enjoyed leaning into the mystery and bravado of EX-UFC fighter Dalton, a tough guy with a dark past who hopes to right some wrongs in this adrenalinefuelled romp from The Bourne Identity director Doug Liman.
“There’s power in his stillness, and he has a wry sense of humour, which I love,” says the 43-year-old star. “He’s always using it, particularly, when he’s in the middle of fighting… it’s almost like someone can’t push him far enough in that way. He’s always joking and teasing them, and I loved that about him.
“I just love how he’s always kind of never taking himself too seriously,” he adds. “How the movie never takes itself too seriously. And he’s kind of the centre of that idea.”
When we meet Gyllenhaal’s Dalton in Prime Video’s Road House – a reimagining of the 1989 film of the same name starring Patrick Swayze – it’s immediately obvious that he’s a man whose reputation precedes him. He’s a former UFC fighter who’s suffered a fall from grace, and now his reappearances in local backstreet fighting rings cause beefy brawlers to go running scared rather than brave facing him in a fight.
One night, he’s spotted by Frankie, played by the Fantastic Beasts series’ Jessica Williams, who owns a roadhouse bar in the Florida Keys. She’s looking for a tough guy to help clean up her bar from the regular brawls and violence that occur there night after night, and is impressed by the threat Dalton imposes.
However, as it turns out, the punch ups aren’t just due to a bunch of boozedup locals looking for a fight, but the work of a violent gang working for crime boss Brandt, played by No Time To Die‘s Billy Magnussen. It transpires that Dalton might just have his work cut out taking on the more sinister forces at play on Glass Key.
With the arrival of the ruthless hitman Knox, played by UFC champion Conor Mcgregor, the brutal brawls escalate. It’s fair to say that this is an action film that packs a punch.
With Irishman Mcgregor playing the villainous, flamboyant, and often hilarious Knox, Gyllenhaal had to prepare himself to take on the professional mixed martial artist and boxer on screen.
“The most nerve wracking (fight) was the first one, because I actually hadn’t met him fully in person,” Gyllenhaal says.
“We had talked on Facetime, but we’d never really been in person, and we didn’t practise that fight together – we did it all separately and then we came together to do it.
“I remember being face to face with him at the very first moment where he headbutts me – I thought to myself: ‘What the hell am I doing?’
“But he was very respectful through the process, and taught me a lot about fighting, taught me a lot about how to grapple and what to do, and always was commenting on my style and helping me.”
Road House marks Mcgregor’s first film acting role, and Gyllenhaal adds that he helped the MMA star with his acting techniques, too.
“He asked me about my
advice in acting and things like that, so it was a really nice exchange,” says the star, who notes that while he’d not acted in a film before, Mcgregor was already experienced in performance.
“I think fighters are performers in that way,” he says.
“There’s something natural about what they do before the fight, in presentation and performance, and then after, and even sometimes during.”
Fight scenes are central to Road House, and with Liman at the helm, it’s no surprise that the action feels fresh, creative and fun throughout.
Also getting involved in the roadhouse skirmishes is Lukas Gage, who plays one of the Road House’s bartenders often called upon by Dalton to help deal with some of the rowdy customers.
Gage, 28, is best known for his roles in The White Lotus, You, and Euphoria, meaning most won’t have seen him in such a high-octane action role before.
“It was a new challenge for me, I’ve never done anything like that before,” says Gage.
“And then on top of that, you have to do a fight sequence with the best fighter in the world, and one of the biggest movie stars, Jake Gyllenhaal. So it’s like, no pressure at all! And Doug Liman on top of that…”
“We have an incredible stunt crew, we have Garrett Warren, who’s our stunt coordinator, and Steve Brown, who’s our fight coordinator, and then this massive, massive group of incredible stunt men and women, so it all came together in a bit of chaos,” adds Gyllenhaal.
“We would leave room for improvisation all the time. If there was a funny thing we could try, or we could fit in the middle of it, we always would go back and we’d try that in the moment.
“The final fight is intense,” he continues, referring to the climactic brawl between Dalton and Knox.
“And that last bit of the final fight, Doug and I came up with, sort of in the moment, we had wanted to figure out a way in which you could do the final piece in an original way.”