News

Jake Gyllenhaal is one of the most dedicated actors in Hollywood as evident in the roles and projects he takes in. He is not afraid to transform himself to fully embody the character he plays. He may have done it when he portrayed Mysterio in Spider-Man: Far From Home, but that doesn’t even come close to what he did in Southpaw.

Jake Gyllenhaal in Southpaw / The Weinstein Company

Fans have seen him bulk up and even starve himself, but gaining body mass is just as demanding as losing weight. His commitment to his movie roles is just beyond incredible.

Jake Gyllenhaal’s Intense Training For Southpaw

Jake Gyllenhaal is widely known for his role as Mysterio in Spider-Man: Far From Home. Playing a comic book character would force him to undergo an intense workout to get into the shape of a supervillain. But, his training for that wasn’t...

Acting is an inherently physical profession. A large part of the job deals with memorizing lines, tapping into extreme emotions, and bringing complex stories to life, but there's no denying that much of a thespian's life is spent physically embodying a wide range of characters. To convincingly portray another person, many actors spend a great deal of time perfecting the mannerisms, speech patterns, and physical charm of their roles, hoping to persuade the audience to suspend their disbelief and embrace the on-screen fantasy.

Occasionally, this transformation is as simple as a costume or a well-made wig. Other roles require a total body transformation, causing actors to spend months in intense training to build a physical framework that will allow them to fully tell the story. Christian Bale is known for these chameleon-like transformations and seems to remake his body for every new role he takes on. Though he has become...

Director Antoine Fuqua got a distressing call early in pre-production for the boxing drama Southpaw.

It was Terry Claybon, a boxing expert who's trained Fuqua for years. He'd just met with Jake Gyllenhaal to see if the actor could fight and he didn't have good news.

In Southpaw, out Friday, Gyllenhaal needed to play a light heavyweight boxing champ, Billy "The Great" Hope.

"He said, 'He's the wrong guy, you picked the wrong guy,'" said Fuqua.

Gyllenhaal could hardly be blamed. He'd never boxed and Fuqua was looking for something specific.

As a lifetime boxing student and devotee, the Training Day director wanted realism in his movie. He'd never directed a film about the sport he loved so dearly and he really didn't want to make just another boxing movie.

Between Rocky and Raging Bull and a number of lesser imitators, the cinema is a not so secret fan...

Jake Gyllenhaal was a changed man after training for Southpaw. The 34-year-old actor underwent extremely rigorous training to prepare to play Billy Hope, a boxing champion who's attempting to get his life back on track—but the tough regimen didn't just transform him physically. Though he obviously did that as well! Gyllenhaal went from a relatively slight 147 pounds to a ripped 175 pounds in just six months, trainer Terry Claybon, who whipped Jake into shape for Southpaw, in theaters July 24, tells E! News. And they had a lot of work to do when they first met up to discuss training. "He wasn't in any shape at all," Claybon said. "We met at a boxing gym, and he was...

If you listened to my interview with Jake Gyllenhaal, discussing his preparation for Nightcrawler, the first look photo above of him playing a professional boxer in Antoine Fuqua's Southpaw won't come as much of a surprise. You're already well aware of just how much he prepares and gets involved with his roles. Speaking with Deadline with regards to Gyllenhaal's ripped physique, Fuqua said, "Jake is going to change how people see him. I had him training twice a day in the boxing ring, he did two-a-days seven days a week." Gyllenhaal lost 30 pounds for his role in Nightcrawler and clearly had to beef up after that for his role in Southpaw. Speaking with Variety earlier this year his trainer Terry Claybon said, "We made a deal, if you're going to learn how to box, you're going to have to get in there and act like a boxer." Fuqua adds to that saying,...

Tonight in Toronto, Denzel Washington and his Training Day director Antoine Fuqua will launch a new franchise, The Equalizer, a drama loosely based on the TV series. Thankfully for fans of Washington’s action work, the film is a closer spiritual cousin to Man On Fire, with Washington playing a righteous character who is merciless on the bad guys. Here, Fuqua, who is also mounting a Magnificent Seven remake with Washington for MGM, discusses the star’s everyman appeal and what makes him capable of so many indelible performances.

Deadline: Watching The Equalizer made me feel like I’d gotten the Man On Fire sequel I never thought possible when John Creasy died after killing every kidnapper in Mexico. The spirit of the movie courses through The Equalizer. What is it about Denzel Washington killing bad guys that makes it feel like Christmas morning?

Fuqua: [Laughs]. I just think it’s...