Jake Gyllenhaal was not entirely sure about the fact that Conor McGregor would sign up for Road House. In a recent interview, Gyllenhaal expressed how excited he was upon getting the news that McGregor was on board.
Initially, when McGregor’s name was brought up to be one of the members of the cast in Road House, Gyllenhaal was skeptical. “The first idea of getting Conor, I was like, ‘Good luck.’ You know?”, said Gyllenhaal. He did not believe it was possible to sign the former UFC double champion for the movie.
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“And then I remember where I was. I was biking, I was on a bike in France. It was like 1:00 AM, and I was coming home from dinner. I was biking home, and I got a phone call, and it was like, ‘Conor’s in.’ And I was like, ‘Oh!’ I was like, ‘No way.’ And then I was like, ‘Oh shit, we have to fight,'” he added.
McGregor has never appeared in a movie before as a main cast. Although he did make an appearance in a British movie as an extra before. The Irish fighter opened up about why he eventually said yes to star in the movie.
Conor McGregor claims it would have been tough to pass up the opportunity to work on Road House
As soon as Gyllenhaal narrated his story about getting excited about working with McGregor, the Irish fighter explained how it would have been tough to let go of this shot. He claimed, “It would’ve been a hard no for me.”
McGregor explained that he was a fan of the American actor who has received nominations at the Oscars and won a BAFTA award. He said, “It was always a yes to work with yourself, you know. I’ve always been a fan of your work and always an admirer of your work. Especially Doug Liman as well, a phenomenal director, Joel Silver, the producer, he was action man Joel is in the industry.”
Take it outside. Road House is open for business March 21. pic.twitter.com/SSODnR8Eci
— Prime Video (@PrimeVideo) January 25, 2024
He added, “And, you know, then you think about the story itself and the movie itself. You know, the “Road House”, the fights, it just, all of it hit home and I was always gonna do it.”
Further, McGregor also revealed that he was a fan of the original 1989 movie named Road House. So, overall, it was a great opportunity.
Conor McGregor reveals how the UFC almost cut ties from Road House
The UFC is involved in the movie heavily because Gyllenhaal’s character is an ex-UFC fighter. They even shot a scene at UFC 285 in Vegas amidst the real crowd. However, they encountered trouble in the partnership.
Jake Gyllenhaal wins by TKO 🤯
Filming a scene for a new movie during UFC 285
(via @Chisanga_Malata)pic.twitter.com/cXWXUeNYUV
— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) March 5, 2023
Gyllenhaal explained that it was essential to have the UFC on board. McGregor, on the other hand, revealed that it was close to being a hit-and-miss. They were going to change Gyllenhaal’s back story to a hypothetical ex-XFC fighter instead of UFC. The UFC was unwilling to associate with a character who had killed someone in its past.
McGregor revealed, “‘Cause obviously Dalton’s [Gyllenhaal’s character] history, the story is he’s killed somebody, and the UFC didn’t really want that. [They were] like, ‘Hold on, well maybe let’s veer away from that.’ But no, that had to be the story, so we got there in the end, but it was almost lost the UFC.”
McGregor hyped up the scenes associated with the UFC stating that the optics of the walkouts bring the movie to life. Road House will be released on Prime Video on March 21, 2024.
