Shortly after it was announced that Jake Gyllenhaal would lead a remake of Road House at Amazon Studios, former UFC champ Conor McGregor has boarded the cast in a major role. Per Deadline, specific details on McGregor's role haven't been revealed, and it's not yet clear if he will be a friend of Gyllenhaal's new incarnation of Dalton or an antagonist. Reportedly, the mixed martial artist will not be playing himself as he will instead be playing an original character.
According to Deadline, McGregor had been pushing back his Hollywood movie debut until he found the project that seemed like the right fit. Word is McGregor learned he was wanted for the Road House remake and to help him make his decision, he watched the original film for the first time. Because he enjoyed the movie, the MMA fighter then met with producer Joel Silver to talk about the reboot and was "all in and loved the idea where the new story was headed compared to the original."
McGregor has limited acting experience with his involvement in commercials, and while he was featured in the 2017 documentary Conor McGregor: Notorious, the new Road House will mark his feature film debut. He is of course best known for his career in MMA which includes holding the UFC featherweight and lightweight championships at the same time at one point. The fighter has headlined many UFC pay-per-view events and is considered to be the biggest draw in MMA history, named the world's highest-paid athlete by Forbes in 2021.
Jake Gyllenhaal Is the New Dalton
In the new Road House, Jake Gyllenhaal plays a former UFC fighter who accepts a job as a bouncer at a rough-and-tumble roadhouse in the Florida Keys, only to soon learn that "not everything is what it seems in this tropical paradise." Other cast members include Billy Magnussen, Daniela Melchior, Gbemisola Ikumelo, Lukas Gage, Hannah Love Lanier, Travis Van Winkle, B.K. Cannon, Arturo Castro, Dominique Columbus, Beau Knapp, and Bob Menery.
Doug Liman directs the film using a screenplay by Anthony Bagarozzi and Charles Mondry. Joel Silver will produce for Silver Pictures. Executive producers include JJ Hook, Alison Winter, and Aaron Auch.
The original Road House was directed by Rowdy Herrington and written by David Lee Henry and Hilary Henkin. It has since become a cult classic and is one of the most popular movies of its era, regarded as one of the best to feature late actor Patrick Swayze. The news of a remake has therefore left many fans leery as Gyllenhaal will have big shoes to fill by taking over the role originally played by Swayze in the first movie.
This won't be the first follow-up film to Road House. The sequel, Road House 2, was released directly to DVD in 2006. It starred Johnathon Shaech as the son of Swayze's character with other cast members including Ellen Hollman, Richard Norton, Jake Busey, and Will Patton. The film was not quite as well received as the original movie and put the franchise on ice again for many years.