He’s played a variety of roles — the troubled teen in Donnie Darko to the gay cowboy in Brokeback Mountain to  the morally ambiguous journalist in Nightcrawler. And now Jake Gyllenhaal is an Oscar hopeful for his role of boxer Billy Hope in Southpaw. An email chat with t2.

What’s it about Southpaw that made you want to do it?
It was the father-daughter relationship (between his character Billy Hope and on-screen daughter Leila, played by Oona Laurence) that attracted me to play Billy’s role. Also getting to learn boxing, something I would not do otherwise, excited me.

What was the biggest challenge of playing Billy?
My biggest concern was that I had to look like a boxer. I didn’t want to be ‘the actor’ who’s just trying to protect himself. I trained extensively for months to play Billy Hope because I did not want to use a stunt double for the fight scenes.

You are known to get into the skin of your characters. What kind of research did you do to play Billy and what kind of a mindset did you have to acquire?
Preparing for Southpaw was a bit of a crash course in the history of boxing, as well as boxing today. I read so much on the sport. And then I trained for five months, twice a day. I learned the foundations and fundamentals of boxing and added on to those as much as I could. 

Also, I based a lot of my character on Miguel Cotto (a Puerto Rican professional boxer who is the current WBC, Lineal and The Ring World Middleweight Champion). Particularly the way he turned his career around. I stole a lot of things from him. To me, he was a huge inspiration to be Billy Hope.

I also took inspiration from Floyd Mayweather (undefeated as a professional, the American boxer is a five-division world champion and has won 11 world titles). Much of my defensive style in the movie was based on Floyd Mayweather. I have mad respect for Floyd. People complain that his style is so defensive, but Floyd is literally the perfect evolution of defence.

Your Billy Hope body has become a talking point. What kind of physical regimen went into it?
I spent five months in the gym, two sets of three-hour workouts, 2,000 sit-ups a day. The first part of the day was all technique of boxing and the second part of the day was getting into shape and getting ready for sparring. 

It must have been tough getting punched around on screen all the time...
I did not have a body double. At times, I was punched in the realistic fight scenes, but nothing to be worried about. All part and parcel of daily shooting. 

Having gone through this extreme physical and mental training, how do you view the boxing profession today?
I fell in love with boxing. I have started respecting boxing as a sport after working on the film.

How has featuring in Southpaw enriched your filmography?
I got to learn a new skill. That’s one of the great things about my job, learning new things.

Your career has had a lot of highs. Which would you pick as the defining moment?
It would be wrong on my part to select anything in particular. I have done diverse roles, and each has given me a new and different kind of learning experience. Every film and the role I have played in it has been a high point in my career.

HOW JAKE BECAME BILLY 
DIET:  Gyllenhaal stuck to carbohydrates in the morning and proteins in the evening. His diet didn't have to be very strict since he was burning so many calories during his workouts. 
WORKOUT: Started off with three hours a day — an hour-and-a-half in the morning and an hour-and-a-half in the evening. After two months, the workouts went up to six hours a day… three hours of boxing in the morning and three hours of strengthening, conditioning and cardio at night. Gyllenhaal would do 1,000 sit-ups in the morning and 1,000 at night. So intense and time-consuming was his routine that Gyllenhaal had to make a lot of sacrifices — including ending his relationship with model Alyssa Miller!
SPARRING WITH PROFESSIONALS: The actor fought in the ring with real-life boxers about six times. 
REAL-LIFE ACTION: Gyllenhaal watched some boxing matches, including a Floyd Mayweather fight in Las Vegas.

Priyanka Roy 
I liked Jake Gyllenhaal best in.... Tell t2@abp.in