Jake Gyllenhaal on hard-hitting boxing flick "Southpaw"
Becoming a champion boxer takes years of hard work, dedication and sacrifice. For Jake Gyllenhaal, playing a winning fighter took all that, but compressed into just five grueling months.
Gyllenhaal stars in "Southpaw," opening Friday, a film that's part boxing, part family drama. But when it's time to get in the ring, it's all about the fighting, reports "CBS This Morning" co-host Gayle King.
"I think it is hard to watch, but I also think there's something about it as you move through the story of father and daughter and you realize what he's fighting for, why he's taking those punches. And those punches have meaning emotionally as opposed to just, 'Oh, what's the brutality here.' There's a reason for them," Gyllenhaal said.
"Southpaw" follows the rise, fall and eventual redemption of prizefighter Billy Hope, played by the 34-year-old actor. The film co-stars Rachel McAdams and 12-year old Oona Laurence.
"There was a group of mothers at the premiere and I was like, 'Oh, I hope they like this,' and I remember in the last fight, they were like, 'Oh, that there was a big hit.' And they were like 'I'd hit someone real hard.' You know? 'Cause it's about family. It's about fighting for your family," Gyllenhaal said.
"Southpaw" is also a beautiful love story.
"Oona, who plays my daughter in the movie, she says, when people ask her, they say, 'Why should people come see this movie?' And Oona said the other night, she said, 'Well, the boxing's pretty good,' she said, 'but it's all about love,'" Gyllenhaal said.
Despite his hard-hitting punches, Gyllenhaal said he was not really a fighter before the film. He'd taken some aerobic boxing classes, but it was nothing like what his character called for.
"I really didn't know much about the techniques. I didn't really know about the sport, really," he said. "And I, over five months, out of fear of, you know, feeling like I might look like a fool in the ring, I learned all the techniques."
Practice ensued, and even though Gyllenhaal never felt like an expert, there was one moment where he came close.
"We shot the fight sequences the first two and a half weeks of filming. So I trained like I was training for a fight. The night before, I really was in a mode. We did basically a weigh-in like they do weigh-ins in real fights. And we went to our respective, you know, rooms before the fight. We had the crowd there. They announced us just like they would in a real fight. And I thought, I'm like, 'I'm gonna beat his a--.' And I was like, 'Oh, wow," Gyllenhaal said.
Director Antoine Fuqua, a boxing fan himself, insisted that Gyllenhaal not play a boxer, but actually become one.
"He said, 'I want to shoot this like a real fight. I want every fight to be shot by the HBO-Showtime cameramen. I want everybody there to be real and everyone from the boxing world. I want there to be a real crowd there. I want to go for long takes. So I want you to do three rounds at a time. And I don't want any doubles,'" Gyllenhaal said.
Gyllenhaal found out how serious Fuqua was one night when he wanted to bow out of a fight scene.
"We were shooting into the evening, probably around 3 a.m. And I said, 'Is it okay if I sit this one out, man? Like, I'm tired. My body's tired.' And he was like, 'What?' I just got back in there," Gyllenhaal said.
The actor said his body double never replaced him for any fight scenes, but did do incredible work, including a car crash.
To embody the boxing legend, Gyllenhaal had to focus on more than just fitness. For him, mindset was also key.
"To me, it was learning the skill of boxing, which is really a beautiful, beautiful sport. And, you know, that eventually sort of shaped my body into that. And it was a fluency in boxing that allowed me eventually to have -- you know, look like a boxer. But it wasn't about 'How do we look like a boxer?'" Gyllenhaal said.
Though it's not surprising Gyllenhaal's fans aren't complaining about his new look.
"It is art. But, you know, art can elicit many responses, right?" Gyllenhaal said.
The main role was originally planned for hip-hop star Eminem, who was the executive producer of the film's soundtrack.
Gyllenhaal, who is friends with Jay-Z, said hip-hop is how he got his "swagger" to play Hope. It's also his favorite genre of music.
"I'm here to bring moms and hip-hop together," he said.
Gyllenhaal's dedication to the role is becoming legend, with the film director even claiming that the actor lost his girlfriend due to his training regimen.
"I think Antoine embellished that, just in terms of his idea of sacrifice and commitment,'" Gyllenhaal said. "But, yeah, 'cause the first thing he said to me was like, 'This is gonna be about sacrifice.' You know? And you know, I think, no, I mean, I think my life comes first always, you know?"