Believe it or not, that’s Academy Award nominated actor Jake Gyllenhaal in the above photo from the upcoming boxing drama Southpaw. Training Day helmer Antoine Fuqua is directing the film, which tells the story of a welterweight boxing champion, Gyllenhaal’s Billy Hope, whose personal life is falling apart despite his professional success. The image debuted on the Golden Globe Awards’ official Twitter feed, which you can see in its original form below.
Gyllenhaal, who stars in Southpaw opposite Naomie Harris, Rachel McAdams, Rita Ora, Forest Whitaker and 50 Cent, is in theaters now headlining writer/director Dan Gilroy’s stylish neo-noir thriller Nightcrawler. Readers who have already witnessed Gyllenhaal’s extremely gaunt transformation for that film are likely to be doubly-impressed by the actor’s polar opposite approach to Southpaw.
Southpaw, in development for some time, was originally set up at DreamWorks Pictures with Eminem planned to play the Hope role. Scripted by “Sons of Anarchy” creator Kurt Sutter, the film was at one time, said to be a “metaphorical” sequel to Curtis Hanson’s Academy Award-winning 8 Mile.
Southpaw is now set for distribution through The Weinstein Company, although no release details have, as of yet, been made available.
The incredible transformation of Jake Gyllenhaal for upcoming boxing drama 'Southpaw.' #actors #movies pic.twitter.com/DjYvSPRgbz
— Golden Globe Awards (@goldenglobes) November 29, 2014
