Jake Gyllenhaal’s Remarkable Transformation For His Latest Project ‘Southpaw’

The first photos of Jake Gyllenhaal’s upcoming film Southpaw were released and the 33-year-old actor looks remarkably different. Gyllenhaal plays a championship middle weight boxer in The Weinstein Company’s upcoming production.

In September, Variety sat down with Jake Gyllenhaal outlining his workout regime.

“Part of Jake Gyllenhaal’s routine includes an eight-mile run, followed by time in the ring with real boxers — he’s trained at gyms in Los Angeles and at the Mayweather Boxing Club in Las Vegas. He even brings along a Variety reporter as he does some of his core exercises: pull-ups (I passed), abs (not so bad) and a squatting drill that involves flipping a 200-pound tire across the floor of a gym (I almost pulled out my back).”

Jake Gyllenhaal’s image as a middle-weight boxer in Southpaw is a stark contrast to the one in his previous project Nightcrawler where he lost 30 pounds to play a sociopath that begins shooting footage of accidents and crimes in Los Angeles to sell to news channels.

Recently, Inquisitr reported that actress Anna Kendrick was upset at Gyllenhaal for bailing out on a project that the pair had signed on to do. Gyllenhaal ditched Disney’s Into The Woods to take the lead role in Nightcrawler.

Southpaw director Antonie Fuqua spoke of how he pushed Jake Gyllenhaal to becoming the husky figure he is now.

“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.”

Fuqua continued, “He trained in New York at Church Gym with real fighters. We literally turned him into a beast. Jake, my God, he’s a very electric, powerful fighter in this movie, and a guy who fights for his daughter.”

“I’m confident that this will change how people see Jake, as a leading man. He was training like a fighter. I had him sparring, really getting hit. I put him in situations where I wanted to see what he was made of. No one but fighters understand the sacrifice it takes to be a fighter.”

You can see Jake Gyllenhaal in Southpaw, which is set to be released next year.

[image via the DailyMail and Google Images]