Anthony Behar/Bravo(NEW YORK) — Jake Gyllenhaal trained extremely hard to play boxer Billy “The Great” Hope in Southpaw. Not only did he hit the gym twice a day, but he immersed himself in the boxing world for the movie that is already getting Oscar buzz.
“I knew very little about the science, the techniques of boxing before we started,” the Oscar-nominated actor told reporters at the amfAR gala in France, according to People magazine. “My thought was, if I trained twice a day, I can make five months, 10 months [of training]. That’s what we did. I spent all my time surrounded by Antoine [Fuqua, the director], my trainer and [the fighters] I was boxing with.”
Gyllenhaal worked with Terry Claybon who said, according to People, “We trained Jake just like a boxer and his body developed that way. …He gained 15 pounds of muscle.”
He added that he had the actor do 1,000 sit-ups a day; 100 pull-ups; 100 dips and two sets of 100 squats, in addition to jumping rope, running eight miles a day and sparring rounds.
This isn’t the first time Gyllenhaal has transformed for a role. Last year, he admitted that he lost 30 pounds for his role in Nightcrawler.
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