Conor McGregor To Make Acting Debut In Jake Gyllenhaal-Led Reboot
Well, that should be interesting.
This article is more than 2 years old
No one really expected to get a remake of the beloved Patrick Swayze cult-classic Road House, but here we are. Not only is Jake Gyllenhaal leading the project, but UFC superstar Conor McGregor will also be making his feature acting debut. While McGregor has appeared in commercials before, this will be his first major film project. The cast is rounded out by Billy Magnussed, Daniela Melchior, Gbemisola Ikumelo, Lukas Gage, Hannah Love Lanier, Travis Van Winkle, B.K. Cannon, Arturo Castro, Dominique Columbus, Beau Knapp, and Bob Menery.
If you haven’t seen Road House since its 1989 debut, it tells the story of a bouncer and martial arts expert (Patrick Swayze) who is hired to clean up a bar in a small Missouri town. The movie also featured Kelly Lynch, Sam Elliott, and Ben Gazzara. The new Jake Gyllenhaal-led version will put a slight spin on things, as Gyllenhaal’s character is a former UFC fighter who takes a bouncer job from a roadhouse in the Florida Keys. It’s unknown who Conor McGregor will be playing in the movie, but presumably, they’ll be putting his mixed martial arts skills to good use. Doug Liman will be directing this new outing with Anthony Bagarozzi and Charles Mondry handling script duties. Joel Silver is on as a producer with JJ Hook, Alison Winter, and Aaron Auch serving as executive producers. The movie will be an Amazon Original.
While interest in the Road House reimagining was already high, the addition of Conor McGregor will certainly ramp up interest. The charismatic fighter has a huge fanbase and is well known by people who don’t even watch UFC. His addition also lends credence to the authenticity of the fight scenes. The 1989 Road House featured plenty of martial arts, including kickboxing, karate, tai chi, and hapkido. It will be interesting to see how they incorporate different fighting techniques in the new film. Since Gyllenhaal is playing a UFC fighter, there’s sure to be a good mix of boxing, muay Thai, Brazilian jiu-jitsu, and various other techniques.
Conor McGregor is best known for his prowess in the Octagon and his trash-talking outside of it. In his career, he was a UFC featherweight champion and a lightweight double champion, making him the first fighter to simultaneously hold championships in two different weight classes. He also faced Floyd Mayweather Jr. in a professional boxing match, which brought in 4.3 million pay-per-view buys, the second most in combat sports history. Though he hasn’t appeared in a feature film before, he did appear in a documentary about his life in 2017 titled Conor McGregor: Notorious. McGregor also has several business ventures, including a whiskey called Proper No. Twelve Irish Whiskey, a pub in Ireland, and a fashion brand called August McGregor. Perhaps his appearance in the upcoming Road House film will inspire him to get into the film industry as well, or at least pursue more acting projects. There is no planned release date for Amazon’s Road House project yet, but we’ll keep you updated on the latest news.
