Jake Gyllenhaal on Being Punched for Real for Road House and Doing Broadway with Denzel Washington

-Jake, welcome back to the show. -Wow, that was so nice. -That was nice. We have a great-- They love you. -That was so nice. -We love you. Yeah. -Felt like Billie Eilish or something. -No, yeah. Welcome back to the show. We were talking backstage because you’ve been on our show. We’ve done "The Tonight Show" for ten years now, which seems like just yesterday we started. But even before then, we were doing "Late Night," and you were doing bits with us. -Yeah. -Thank you for being a great guest an

d a good friend to the show. We love you, bro. [ Cheers and applause ] You know, I was thinking about it, like, now that you’re, like, totally certified and you’re a legend in that way, you know, it’s so cool to be there with you at the beginning of it all. I mean, even when you were on "SNL" and stuff. -That’s right. That’s right. -Your first year. -Actually, we’ve known each other for a long time, right? Yeah. I want to talk to you about this. I think you -- you’re good with live audiences. Yo

u’re good. You love this applause. It works well together. And here’s why -- you’re coming back to Broadway. By the way. This is a big deal. -I am. -This is a giant deal. [ Cheers and applause ] You like live theater. This is... -Oh, I mean, I love it. I mean, it’s like, in the same breath, it’s, like, enriching and incredible and terrifying at the same time. So it’s so great. -Yeah. There’s no safety net. -Nothing. -You’re coming back in a big way. You’re going to star in Shakespeare’s "Othello

." Are you kidding me? With none other than Denzel Washington. Come on! -Yeah. -How awesome is that? -I know. I know. [ Cheers and applause ] So sweet. What a great crowd. This is -- I know, it’s fun. Right? I mean, come on, just first of all, just doing "Othello" on Broadway. I know, it’s -- it’s crazy. Well, first of all, yeah, it’s Shakespeare, which is one thing, and then it’s with Denzel Washington, which is a whole other thing. -So, you like a lot of -- You like pressure. [ Laughs ] You’re

adding this into your life. You’re choosing this. -Yeah. I mean, in a way, like you got to walk into a situation, particularly in the stage or when you’re going to delve into something for that long where you know you’re going to learn -- you know, you want to learn. And I don’t know if there are any two better people to learn from than Shakespeare and Denzel Washington. -Yeah. Are you intimidated at all or just excited? -Yeah, yeah. -I mean, maybe he’s intimidated too. I mean, I think you’re..

. -Ehhh... -No, yeah, I mean, I see this as a giant... This is going to be so fun. -I got to tell you. Yeah. No, it really is a dream. I mean, I obviously have been like -- he’s been an idol of mine. Like, I’ve just looked up to him for years. So to be able to be on the stage with someone like that is just, it’s a dream come true. And Kenny Leon too, who’s directing it, is incredible also. -It’s gonna be fantastic. -And William Shakespeare, who I went to high school with, is just... -No, I love

Billy. Billy Shakespeare. -Billy, Billy. -Billy Shakespeare is... -Like, he really is. He’s a great guy. -He’s gonna go somewhere. -Yeah, I feel... -I would lose the collar thing, but besides that. -Yeah, but like... -That’s like... -But I feel like he’s like, he’s getting there and he’s really a talent. -Yes, yes. He’s something. Yeah, yeah, yeah, I don’t know, it's just... -It’s really... So, anyway, I’m excited for him because -- -Me too. Hopefully it works out. If not, it’s going to be a tra

gedy. [ Both laugh ] Aha, thank you very much. Please, please. No standing ovation. -No. Oh, my God, standing o-- No, thank you very much. That’s how you do it. [ Laughter ] We just got... And we got to go to commercial. Oh, my gosh. Oh, so bad, so bad. -I think I’ve laughed here more than I’ve talked here over the years. I’ve laughed at this desk more than I’ve ever talked. You make me laugh. -Good. That’s the way it should. That’s the way it should be. But what a great, fun job that we have. B

ut also you can do "Othello," you can do Shakespeare on Broadway, but also do "Road House." I mean, that’s so fun. -Yes. -Wait till you see this. It is so fun. It’s exactly what I wanted to do. But how do you even come across like, "oh, let’s redo 'Road House'"? -Well, Doug Liman, who directed the movie, he's been my friend -- -I love Doug Liman. -He’s the best. We’ve been friends for 15-plus years, maybe longer than we’ve been friends. -Yeah. -And we’ve tried to find a movie to do throughout th

at time. And like, we’ve sort of tried to, but it didn’t really work out. And then we were at dinner one night talking about something else, and he said, "I read this draft of this reimagining of 'Road House.'" And before he could, like, finish the word "house," I was like, "That sounds crazy. Let’s do that." -[ Laughing ] Yeah. -I was like, "That’s a terrible idea. Let’s do it." -It turns out great. -And yeah, and it was just like something about making a movie with your friend, something about

, you know, being in that world. You know, I knew Patrick Swayze when we made "Donnie Darko" with your incredible wife, Nancy, who produced that movie. -That’s right. This is it. -Yeah. -Look at you and Patrick Swayze. [ Cheers and applause ] -Yeah. -What was he like? -I mean, he was just the kindest, most... I mean, he supported me very early on. I mean, him and his wife Lisa, just so sweet, like, just always there and... -I mean, every movie. I mean, come on -- "Dirty Dancing"... -"Point Break

." -"Point Break"! -"Ghost." I mean, it's just like, yeah. -Crushes it. -So, yeah. So like, you know, I just -- I love that, the original movie, and the thought of redoing it just sounded like a lot of fun. -Yeah. You think he would love this? I think he would love this. -I think he would. -It’s really... If you liked "Road House," you’re going to dig this. But you got jacked. I’ve seen you jacked before. I’ve seen you, like, in great shape. You were the boxer... -Yeah, yeah. -But this one is ne

xt level. -Well, you know, I... -Look at this. Is this CGI or what? What am I looking at? -That’s, um... [ Cheers and applause ] The photo -- Oww! The photo got a "oww!" -Yeah, no. -Yeah, that’s the review. All the reviews are like, "Oww!" [ Laughter ] But, dude... -That’s all you need. -But this is -- I’ve never seen anyone have 13 abs. I mean, what -- how is it possible? I mean, the training that goes into this. -There was a lot of training, but like when I got word that -- 'Cause Conor McGreg

or is in the movie with me, and when I got word that he was going to be doing it, I was super psyched because they chased him for a long time to play the part. But then I got totally terrified and I thought, "Oh, God, I actually have to fake fight this guy, and I got to look like I can." So we trained for like... I mean, I stay in pretty good shape, but we trained for two months pretty hard -- grappling, a lot of MMA. And then also just like getting in shape, you know. -Then you showed up at a U

FC fight to do -- to film a scene. -Yeah. -It was a scene like announcing that you’re actually going to get in the ring and blah, blah, blah, and no one knew you were going to be there. -No, yeah. -That would make me nervous. -Yeah, that was pretty nerve-racking. They had never allowed anyone besides -- who wasn’t a fighter into the ring. And I, you know, I had like that picture -- like, I’m wearing the UFC shorts and it has my character’s name on it and stuff like that. -Did anyone know what wa

s going on? -No, we surprised an audience of 15,000 people before -- after the undercards, before the main event. We were given a certain amount of time and to shoot this sequence, this little piece of a fight sequence. And I entered in, and everyone was like, "Who is this person?" And then they kind of got that we were fake fighting, but they were still cheering, you know. They would, like -- I would throw a fake punch and they’d go crazy, like 15,000 people. It was cr-- it was insane. -They’re

acting in the movie with you. -Yeah, yeah, yeah. -But you’re in the octagon. I mean, I would -- again, I get nervous just even watching this. -So serious, so serious. [ Audience cheering ] -Another "oww!" -[ Laughs ] -And Conor McGregor is fantastic, by the way. -Oh, yeah. He’s so... I mean, he’s like... -It’s perfect. He’s great. -It’s crazy. -I hung out with him once on the show. We went to a thing, and he had something with his whiskey. We went to a bar, and I was frightened 'cause you never

know when all of a sudden something is like -- he doesn’t understand a joke or something, he's like, "What?" and then just knocks you out. Like, dude, I don’t want any of this. -It’s all a possibility. Yes. -Did you get close, like when you were fighting and stuff? -Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. We had, actually, by mistake, he clocked me in the face, but like, but only -- We were -- We would do a take where we were like fighting and fake fighting, fake fighting, and then we’d go watch the monitor to

see it back, to see what worked. And he was always great with me. He would show me, tell me to do things and like, "Oh, you know, turn your head, move a little bit more this way to try and make it look more real." And it was late, because we shot a lot of these fight scenes at night, so it was like 3 a.m. and he was talking to me really close And he was like, "Yeah, that left hook looks good. But then when you do it like, boom!" -- like that, and he hit me by mistake. Like, it was almost like..

. And I was like, "Oh!" And he was like, "Oh! -[ Whining ] "I’m bleeding! I’m an actor!" -I was like, "My face!" -"I’m an actor!" [ Laughter ] "I’m on Broadway! Don’t touch! This is the money!" -"The face!" -That’s it. -But I, by mistake, then slammed his face with a car door. And he was like, he just... -He’s like, that’s funny. -Like, legit. Like, hit his face and he was like, "Pfft." -Yeah, he’s like, "That tickled me. It tickled me, yeah." -And Post Malone, by the way, a little... -Yeah, yea

h. He's so great. -A little acting chops. -There's good music in this. It’s just a fun ride. Action, but it’s also fun. You know what it is. It’s "Road House." I mean, do we got to set it up? -I mean, yeah, it’s just, it’s so much fun. If you want to have fun, you want to see a great movie, laugh a lot, watch great fights, great action, watch Conor McGregor in his movie debut. -Yeah. -It’s -- That’s -- I don’t know. There’s so much great stuff in it. So, no intro needed. -I want to show you a cl

ip. Here’s Jake Gyllenhaal in "Road House." Take a look. [ Rock music playing ] -[ Grunting ] -Dalton! -What? -It’s about [bleep] time! That’s what. You know, I got sent here special just for you. -What, you brought all your friends with you? -I thought you might miss having an audience. I was trying to be thoughtful. Like on pay-per-view. 25 quid. Watch me pulp your face! -Well, I guess I’m gonna lose, then. -Ahh! Don’t be like that. Here, I got a tip for you. Don’t let no one get this close. -

Ohh! Come on! [ Cheers and applause ] Come on! Jake Gyllenhaal, everybody! "Road House" begins streaming this Thursday on Prime Video. More with Jake when we come back. Stick around, everybody.