Southpaw Transformed Jake Gyllenhaal Externally and Internally

Known for his role in movies like Donnie Darko, Prisoners and Nightcrawler, 34-year-old Jake Gyllenhaal experienced an internal transformation after training for his upcoming film Southpaw. He plays the lead character of a boxing champion, Billy Hope, for which he underwent thorough training. He was trained by former boxer Terry Claybon.

According to E!online, Terry said, “I think that after this movie Jake's about to be one of the biggest stars out there, because of the strength. He's grown a lot. To pull off this boxing movie, he had to put everything into it. He had to put his heart and soul into this”. Jake had to work really hard to get in shape for the role as it required the body of a boxing professional.

“We met at a boxing gym, and he was jumping rope. Just the way he was jumping rope, I knew we had a lot of work to do. Everything we did in training was as if he was having a professional boxing match”, Terry added. Jake had to follow a rigorous schedule to prepare for the movie. Terry stated, “Gyllenhaal didn't have any days off, training seven days a week for six months. We were working out three hours in the a.M., three hours in the p.M., six hours total a day, seven days a week”.