Jake Gyllenhaal Looks So Different In New Role

Jake Gyllenhaal has been training hard for his new role as a boxer in Southpaw. He plays Billy "The Great" Hope, an acclaimed fighter who hits rock bottom, in the drama, which also stars Rachel McAdams, Naomie Harris, and Forest Whitaker. Director Antoine Fuqua told Deadline that Gyllenhaal was training seven days a week, twice a day to prepare. And it paid off. The Nightcrawler actor looks incredibly buff in the newly released still.

Strangely, Eminem was originally slotted for the role, but dropped out to focus on his music. But Gyllenhaal has fully committed. Says Fuqua:

He trained in New York at Church Gym with real fighters. We literally turned him into a beast… Jake, my god, he's a very electric, powerful fighter in this movie, and a guy who fights for his daughter.

It seems that lots of celebrities have been beefing up or slimming down in a major way for recent roles. Luckily, Gyllenhaal's transformation involved him hitting the gym, rather than losing 25 pounds as he did for Nightcrawler. Fuqua suggests in the interview that Gyllenhaal's new look and work in Southpaw will make him major leading man material.

Here's how Gyllenhaal looked in Nightcrawler:

And here's what he looks like in Southpaw:

Kinda scary, isn't it?