ROAD HOUSE
JAKE GYLLENHAAL IS THE NEW BOUNCER IN TOWN AS A UFC-FLAVOURED REMAKE OF 80S FAVOURITE ROAD HOUSE FINALLY HITS SCREENS – AND HE’S GOT MMA STAR CONOR McGREGOR TO GRAPPLE WITH. TOTAL FILM TAKES IT OUTSIDE WITH THE STARS TO TALK REINVENTING FILM FIGHTS, PATRICK SWAYZE AND OFF-SCREEN BATTLES…
The name’s Dalton…’ Nothing epitomised Patrick Swayze’s screen cool quite like 1989’s Road House, an action film very much of its decade. Sandwiched between Dirty Dancing and Ghost on Swayze’s CV, it cast him as ‘cooler’ (read bouncer) Dalton, brought in to clean up a Missouri bar.
Swayze, often the swoon-worthy romantic lead, was convincing as the level-headed but double-hard doorman who could take out the trash while still remembering to ‘be nice’. Despite some 80s excesses, Road House was a different kind of action film, and a different kind of hero, to what audiences in that era were seeing from the likes of Schwarzenegger and Stallone.
A thinly veiled western - many character names reference classic cowboys -Road House is fundamentally a simple story of a new sheriff in town entering the local saloon and standing up against the local bullies who are ruling the town by fear and force. And as such, it’s a rare beloved gem that cries out to be remade. It’s a story that could be transplanted anywhere.
It’s also a film that continues to punch above its weight, despite not being the biggest box-office hit of its day (it took in an estimated $61 million). Jake Gyllenhaal, for one, recalls it grabbing his attention.
‘When I was a kid, I remember seeing the Road House poster, and it being so intriguing to me as an original idea,’ says Gyllenhaal, Zooming in from a break in Paris, casually cool in a black T-shirt.
‘And at some point, maybe on television, I remember seeing clips of it, and it was also sparking interest. It really had a strange, intense resonance. And I was of an age when I didn’t really know what exactly it was that I was watching.’
Gyllenhaal had previous form with Swayze, having worked with him on Donnie Darko (Gyllenhaal’s breakout film being something of a late-career standout for Swayze). ‘I definitely fanned out, but I tried to play it cool,’ Gyllenhaal recalls of working with the original Dalton. ‘I never really spoke to him about [Road House].’
Remakes have been mooted over the years but never materialised. Gyllenhaal and director Doug Liman (The Bourne Identity, Mr. and Mrs. Smith, Edge of Tomorrow) had been looking to collaborate on a movie for two decades, never hitting on the right project. One night, the pair were having dinner, and discussing another interesting project that didn��
