‘Southpaw’ Actor Jake Gyllenhaal ‘Just Fell For’ On-Screen Daughter Oona

Claybon got the actor to spar with professional boxers, and took him to real boxing matches – including a Floyd Mayweather, Jr. fight in Las Vegas.

Already in her acting career, Oona Laurence has appeared in television shows such as Louie, Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, and Orange is the New Black, as well as appearing in movies including I Smile Back, Lamb, and The Grief of Others.

Gyllenhaal, 34, plays a dad to a young actress Oona Laurence in the boxing drama “Southpaw“. “I think it’s fulfilling some sort of male fantasy, but we’re slowly getting past that”. “I am not a father yet, but it is definitely a dream of mine, should I be lucky to have that to happen”, the Oscar-nominated star told Entertainment Tonight’s Kevin Frazier. Nowhere near the extent that Jake did.

“I practiced. I wasn’t fighting”. In a recent interview, Gyllenhaal explained how he prepared for the role and got into the flawless boxing shape. However, Gyllenhaal reveals that he was already fully motivated to embrace the workouts, due to a combination of fear and sheer bloody-mindedness. “We improved a lot, and she would make choices, I would just follow her in an improv, and that’s the dynamic”, the “Prisoners” actor added. Still, he said, all that preparation was worth it. “I was just basically scared that I’d look like an idiot, so I worked as hard as I could”.

Together, they both committed to the tough training and diet regime which meant that they were in the gym twice a day, every day, but in the end Gyllenhaal complete an incredible transformation. “Fear is sometimes a good motivating thing”, he said.