Jake Gyllenhaal seems to be on a bit of a remake kick right now. His last two movies – Antoine Fuqua’s The Guilty and Michael Bay’s Ambulance – are both English-language versions of overseas films, and now the actor is set to tackle a redo of a beloved Patrick Swayze movie. Amazon Prime Video and MGM are now in the process of developing a new version of the 1989 film Road House, and not only is Gyllenhaal attached to play the lead role, but Doug Liman has come aboard to direct.
Liman most recently made the COVID heist feature Locked Down and the Tom Holland/Daisy Ridley sci-fi thriller Chaos Walking, but he’s probably best known for his recent collaborations with Tom Cruise – making the time loop thriller Edge Of Tomorow with the Top Gun: Maverick star in 2014, and reuniting with him in 2017 for the based-on-a-true-story thriller American Made. In addition to working with those mentioned, the filmmaker has worked with a lot of other movie stars – including Brad Pitt, Angelina Jolie, and Matt Damon – but Road House will be his first time working with Jake Gyllenhaal.
Directed by Rowdy Herrington, the original Road House tells the story of James Dalton (Patrick Swayze), a bouncer who moves from New York City to a small town in Missouri to take on the head security job at a rowdy bar called the Double Deuce. In addition to Swayze, the film co-stars Kelly Lynch, Sam Elliott, Kevin Tighe, and Ben Gazzara.
This is not the first time that MGM has tried to develop a remake of the 1989 movie, having previously hired controversial filmmaker Rob Cohen to direct a version about a decade ago, and planned a different gender-swapped version starring Ronda Rousey back in 2015. Considering that this version of the project is set to go into production in the Dominican Republic this month, it seems fair to say that the combination of Jake Gyllenhaal and Doug Liman, not to mention the partnership with Amazon, has been the key to finally getting the project into production.
As far as upcoming Jake Gyllenhaal movies go, the actor has completed his work on Guy Ritchie’s upcoming thriller The Interpreter, and he is providing a voice in the upcoming Walt Disney Animation Film Strange World, which will be in theaters on November 23. In addition to Road House, he is also attached to a number of other projects, including the post-pandemic action film The Division (co-starring Jessica Chastain) and the comic book movie Prophet (from Extraction director Sam Hargrave).
If you’ve never seen Road House and want to check it out before the new version, you have multiple digital options. If you have an AMC+ subscription, you can check it out via Amazon (opens in new tab) or The Roku Channel (opens in new tab), and it’s also available through Philo (opens in new tab). You can also rent and/or purchase the movie through Google Play (opens in new tab), Apple (opens in new tab), and Vudu (opens in new tab).