Jake Gyllenhaal knew he was stepping into big shoes when he took on the role originated by Patrick Swayze in the new road house film, which is now streaming on Amazon Prime Video. But the 43-year-old star found a way to keep Swayze’s spirit alive on set: his character’s tattoos.
“I have a couple of different tattoos. [in the movie] in honor of Patrick. When I put them on in the morning, I remember the history of this piece and its origins, which is good to remember every day,” Gyllenhaal told Jugo Mobile in a recent interview. However, when asked, Gyllenhaal declined to specify which tattoos were a tribute to Swayze, saying that he had been advised, presumably by Amazon’s PR team, not to say anything.
“They’re supposed to be like Easter eggs,” Gyllenhaal said, an apologetic note in his voice. “They say, ‘Oh, don’t say it! Go find them.’ He presses pause and look, you’ll find them. They are just a small ode to him.”
Swayze, who died in 2009 of pancreatic cancer when he was just 57, starred in the 1989 film. road house film as James Dalton, a professional “cooler” whose job is to break up bar fights in a rowdy Missouri club. Gyllenhaal, playing a version of Dalton with a new past as a UFC fighter, worked with Swayze in the 2001 film. Donnie Darko, which featured Swayze as an irritating motivational speaker and Gyllenhaal as a troubled teenager. “I knew Patrick; we made this movie Donnie Darko together, and he was always very kind to me,” Gyllenhaal told Jugo Mobile. “I just wanted to honor him and bring him with me.”
Are Jake Gyllenhaal’s tattoos on road house real?
Jake Gyllenhaal’s tattoos in road house they are not real. As Gyllenhaal told Jugo Mobile in that same interview, “I don’t have any tattoos.”
That said, the star said that her co-star, real-life UFC fighter Conor McGregor, has real tattoos, including some that had to be covered up for filming Road House. “Conor had his makeup covered, I think because of copyright issues.”