Jake Gyllenhaal will take any chance he can to sing Patrick Swayzecompliments.
The two met in the early 2000s when they were working on the sci-fi psychological thriller Donnie Darko. Fast forward two decades later, and Gyllenhaal is playing a role eerily similar to that of Swayze, made famous in the 1989 action drama. Road house.
On Tuesday, the 43-year-old actor gushed over the late Swayze while speaking with ET’s Rachel Smith at the New York premiere of Road house at Lincoln Center, where Gyllenhaal remembers meeting Swayze for the first time. The meeting led to a beautiful friendship that lasted until Swayze’s untimely death in September 2009 after a long battle with pancreatic cancer.
“I mean, from the beginning, from the moment I met Patrick – we worked on the film (2001) Donnie Darko – and from all the scenes we’ve shot and over the years, he and his wife, Lisa (Niemi) – and even Lisa to this day – have been just loving and supportive,” Gyllenhaal recalled. “I mean, they were just such a lovely couple. I think he was raised on this kind of theatrical dance ensemble idea, and he always brought that to the groups he worked with and he brought that to me. He just, I mean, so many different times just… they’re kind, generous. That was his spirit.”
It was Swayze who made the role of James Dalton famous in 1989 Road house, a fighter with soft skills who was incredibly skilled at calming violent situations. Gyllenhaal’s character, Elwood Dalton, is a former UFC fighter hired by the owner of a road house (Image: Getty Images)Jessica Williams) in the Florida Keys to also try to help keep the peace among his rowdy clientele.
“It takes a lot to make me angry, but when I am, I just can’t let go,” admits Gyllenhaal’s character in the trailer, which is full of epic fights against everyone, including the wealthy businessman who threatens to close the club. , played by Billy Magnussen, and the menacing assassin he hires, played by real-life UFC legend Conor McGregor.
“No one ever wins a fight,” Elwood tells nurse and love interest Ellie, played by Daniela Melchior, in the trailer.
The remake made its world premiere at the 2024 SXSW Festival in Austin, Texas, where Gyllenhaal received a standing ovation for his deft performance. Not just Gyllenhaal undergo a dramatic body transformation for the role, but director Doug Liman has gone on record to say that it is without a doubt Gyllenhaal’s best work to date.
“He says it,” Gyllenhaal told ET of Liman’s high praise. “But I think… I made a movie with a friend. I’ve been friends with Doug Liman for over 15 years and he said to me, ‘I want to make a movie and show people things that I see when we can go out. And that’s what you You want from your director, you know, someone who takes things from you that are new, that challenge you. And really, our friendship is in this movie and so is his sense of humor. And he made a great movie.”
Road house drops Thursday on Prime.
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