Jake Gyllenhaal knew he was stepping into big shoes when he took over the role originated by Patrick Swayze in the new Road House movie, which is now streaming on Amazon Prime Video. But the 43-year-old star found a way to keep the spirit of Swayze 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’d be reminded of the history of this piece and the origins of it, which was good to remember every day,” Gyllenhaal told Decider in a recent interview. When asked, Gyllenhaal declined to specify which tattoos were an homage to Swayze, however—saying he’d been advised, presumably by the Amazon PR team, not to say anything.
“They’re supposed to be, like, Easter eggs,” Gyllenhaal said, with a note of apology in his voice. “They’re like, ‘Oh, don’t say! Go look for them.’ Press pause and look, you’ll find them. They’re just they’re just a little ode to him.”
Swayze, who died in 2009 of pancreatic cancer when he was just 57, starred in the 1989 Road House movie as James Dalton, a professional “cooler,” whose job is to break up bar fights at a rowdy club in Missouri. Gyllenhaal, who plays a version of Dalton with a new past as a UFC fighter, worked with Swayze on the 2001 film Donnie Darko, which featured Swayze as an aggravating motivational speaker, and Gyllenhaal as a troubled teen. “I knew Patrick—we did this film Donnie Darko together, and he was always so kind to me,” Gyllenhaal told Decider. “I just wanted to honor him and bring him with me.”
Are Jake Gyllenhaal’s tattoos in Road House real?
Jake Gyllenhaal’s tattoos in Road House are not real. As Gyllenhaal told Decider in that same interview, “I don’t have any tattoos.”
That said, the star did say that his co-star, real-life UFC fighter Conor McGregor, does have real tattoos—including a few that had to be covered up to film Road House. “Conor had his covered up by makeup, I think due to copyright things.”
