Gyllenhaal is flexed for success in 'Southpaw' promo pic
Jake Gyllenhaal is muscling in on De Niro's territory.
If the first image of a bulked up Gyllenhaal as a professional prize fighter in the upcoming drama, 'Southpaw' wasn't impressive enough, it landed like a right hook to fans that had just seen the actor looking incredibly gaunt in his previous film -- the award season darling, 'Nightcrawler.'
Gyllenhaal, who dropped 30 pounds (or one-sixth his weight) to play the sociopath cameraman in 'Nightcrawler,' told Variety he spent six hours a day for six months training to look the part of a junior middleweight boxer.
The movie, scripted by Kurt Sutter, follows a boxing champion who suffers a personal tragedy and comes out swinging.
The massive weight swing is being compared to acting heavyweight Robert De Niro's famous 60-pound bulk up for 1980's 'Raging Bull,' which led to a TKO over the competition for the Best Actor Oscar.
Adding 15 pounds of muscle to his frame, Gyllenhaal didn't just look the part for 'Southpaw,' says his director.
'I'm so pumped, man,' director Antoine Fuqua told Deadline.com. '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. I pretty much had him with me and my trainer every day. I took him to almost every fight. I had him train at Floyd Mayweather's gym in Vegas and we watched Floyd's fights, and the Manny Pacquiao fight. He trained in New York at Church Gym with real fighters.
'We literally turned him into a beast.'
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