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Jake Gyllenhaal has abs to die for in his latest role as a boxer whose life unravels in Southpaw. But getting that way might have killed a lesser man.
The 34-year-old actor did 2000 sit-ups – 1000 in the morning, another 1000 in the evening – as part of a six-hour daily workout routine.
The task of getting into convincing shape was made that much harder by the fact that he was coming off a major weight loss for his role in Nightcrawler.
Last November, the Oscar-nominated actor (in the supporting actor category, for Brokeback Mountain in 2006) told Fairfax he thought the experience of making Nightcrawler – for which he shed 10 kilos to play a ghoulish cable TV cameraman who roams the streets looking for tragedy and mayhem – "will never go away completely".
He also confessed that he had found it hard to quit the intense jogging regime that had helped him shed the weight for the role.
That may have been a bonus for his preparation for Southpaw, though.
According to Claybon, the Gyllenhaal who landed on his doorstep at the start of their workout program didn't need to shed any weight.
He did, however, need to learn how to box. "I was blown away over how much work I had to do because of his rhythm, coordination, and timing," the trainer said.
He eventually coaxed the actor into the ring for six separate bouts with boxers – five pros and one amateur – and took him to watch professional fights, to witness firsthand "how the audience has an effect on fighters".
In the end, Claybon thinks his charge made a pretty decent fist of faking it as a fighter.
"You see a guy who knows how to box," he said.
Southpaw will be released in Australia in August.
