Jake Gyllenhaal on acting with ‘White belt’ Conor McGregor in ‘Road House’ remake: ‘He had a learning curve’
Jake Gyllenhaal was impressed with Conor McGregor and his acting skills.
McGregor made his acting debut in the Road House film re-make, which is set to be released on Prime Video on March 21.
Although the movie hasn’t been released to the public, it has received positive reviews from critics, and Gyllenhaal was impressed with McGregor and his acting.
“I came to the fight game as bringing movies there, and I thought it was a fantastic response. It was super fun,” Gyllenhaal told MMA Junkie. “I think we all had great respect for the fight game. Same thing with Conor when he came to the movie set. He came in and said, ‘I’m a white belt. I’m here to learn. I don’t know anything about making movies or acting, and I want to learn.’ That type of humility in that space, I tried to bring the same way in the opposite end. I don’t know that much about the fight game. I have great respect for it, and I wanted to learn.”
Jake Gyllenhaal says Conor McGregor went all in on acting which he was impressed with. He also remembers the moment during filming when he realized the Irishman was actually a good actor.
“Mostly I’ve worked with a lot of ex-fighters, but they’ve learned how to be stunt people so in that sense, they know how to fake fight,” Gyllenhaal said. “I think Conor had a learning curve in learning how to fake fight was not [natural]. Also, I worked with Chandler, too, which is kind of interesting. Both of them in the sequences we did — I remembered taking a hit in a movie. You’re not taking it; you’re selling it. Being head-to-head with Conor, the first shot we shot was that head butt, and that was his first time just staring me in the eyes and I was like, ‘Oh s—t.’”
It will be interesting for fans to see the full movie on March 21 and see just how good McGregor is at acting.
Conor McGregor hoping to fight twice in 2024
Now that filming is done for Road House, Conor McGregor is hoping to return to the Octagon this year and is hopeful to fight twice.
McGregor has said he will return on June 29 at International Fight Week against Michael Chandler. He then plans to return at The Sphere in September against Nate Diaz, but UFC CEO Dana White has shut both of those down and says he isn’t sure if the Irishman will fight this year.
Conor McGregor hasn’t fought since July of 2021 when he broke his leg in the trilogy match against Dustin Poirier.
