Pain don’t hurt, but Jake Gyllenhaal’s Road House remake trailer might

Jake Gyllenhaal wants you to be nice to his remake of Road House—until it’s time to not be nice.

The trailer for Gyllenhaal’s MMA-inspired spin on Rowdy Herrington’s late-80s classic, Road House, is finally here. Judging by the intensity with which Gyllenhaal bulked up for the role as an ex-UFC middleweight fighter, 2024’s Road House promises a visceral action comedy far removed from Swayze’s contemplative warrior. But that was a different throat-ripping good time, as influenced by pro wrestling as this is by MMA.

To that end, director Doug Liman has replaced the late great Terry Funk with controversial MMA champion Conor McGregor. But seeing as the film is about a mixed martial artist superstar making his way to that Florida bar, instead of a zen warrior with a philosophy degree from NYU and a penchant for throat rips, this will be a darker, more intense Road House.

It does look like a faithful remake on a plot level, despite what appears to be an overlong setup about how Gyllenhaal ended up at the bar and the staggering number of credited writers on this thing. Billy Magnussen stands in for Ben Gazara’s villainous Brad Weasley, and Jessica Williams takes over for Kevin Tighe’s bar owner, Tilghman. Gyllenhaal, for his part, appears to be leaning into the detached comedy of the piece, tossing off lines about Arturo Casto not being his “friend” but rather someone whose arm he just broke.

The movie lands after a tumultuous post-production process. Per Variety, Amazon reportedly fired producer Joel Silver from Road House, as well as the Mark Wahlberg movie Play Dirty, for allegedly verbally abusing two female assistants. Silver denied the allegations and insisted that he was pushing back on Amazon’s attempts to use A.I. to finish the film during the strikes. Amazon, of course, denied that. After Silver’s dismissal, those involved with the film pushed Amazon Studios head Jennifer Salke to play the movie for Jeff Bezos on his yacht, hoping that seeing Road House would convince the wealthiest man on Earth to release the film theatrically. Bezos reportedly watched the film, but it went right to streaming, creating yet another maelstrom.

Yesterday, director Doug Liman penned an op-ed in Deadline explaining why he was boycotting the premiere of Road House. Liman says Road House may be his best movie, with Gyllenhaal delivering a “career-defining performance.” However, he “signed up to make a theatrical motion picture for MGM,” which was later purchased by Amazon. In Liman’s words:

Contrary to their public statements, Amazon has no interest in supporting cinemas. Amazon will exclusively stream Road House on Amazon Prime. Amazon asked me and the film community to trust them and their public statements about supporting cinemas, and then they turned around and are using Road House to sell plumbing fixtures.

Road House premieres on Prime Video on March 21.