Prime Video announced today that Academy Award-nominated actor Jake Gyllenhaal (The Guilty, Nightcrawler, Brokeback Mountain) is set to star in Road House, a reimagining of the 1989 MGM movie.
Doug Liman (The Bourne Identity, Mr. & Mrs. Smith) will direct from a script written by Anthony Bagarozzi (The Nice Guys) & Charles Mondry. Joel Silver (The Matrix, Die Hard) is producing for his company, Silver Pictures. JJ Hook, Alison Winter, and Aaron Auch will serve as executive producers.
The cast also includes Billy Magnussen (No Time to Die), Daniela Melchior (The Suicide Squad), Gbemisola Ikumelo (A League of Their Own), Lukas Gage (The White Lotus), and Hannah Love Lanier (A Black Lady Sketch Show).
The cast is rounded out by Travis Van Winkle (You), B.K. Cannon (Why Women Kill), Arturo Castro (Broad City), Dominique Columbus (Ray Donovan), Beau Knapp (Seven Seconds), and Bob Menery.
Since the 1989 debut of the beloved original starring Patrick Swayze, the film and its lead character, Dalton, have cemented themselves globally in modern entertainment ethos.
The new take on Road House follows a former UFC fighter (Gyllenhaal) who takes a job as a bouncer at a rough-and-tumble roadhouse in the Florida Keys but soon discovers that not everything is what it seems in this tropical paradise.
“Road House is a homerun for us. Not only is it a nod to fans of the original, but it is also a big, fun, broad audience movie,” said Jennifer Salke, head of Amazon Studios.
“We are thrilled to collaborate with Joel, Doug, and this great cast led by Jake Gyllenhaal and for them to come together to reimagine the classic MGM film as an action-packed adventure for our global audience.”
“I’m thrilled to put my own spin on the beloved Road House legacy. And I can’t wait to show audiences what Jake and I are going to do with this iconic role,” said director Doug Liman.
“The original Road House has a special place in my heart, and I am so excited to bring this newly imagined version to audiences around the world. Doug and I have each made some big, boisterous action movies and are ready to bring everything we have to this one,” said producer Joel Silver.
The Amazon Original Movie is set to go into production in the Dominican Republic this month and will stream on Prime Video in more than 240 countries and territories worldwide at release.
An Academy Award and Tony Award-nominated actor, Gyllenhaal, can next be seen in Guy Ritchie’s upcoming film The Interpreter. Gyllenhaal’s work as a producer is equally noteworthy, and his production company Nine Stories has established itself as a force, most recently producing Antoine Fuqua’s The Guilty, also starring Gyllenhaal, which was Netflix’s #1 film for over three weeks.
Liman is a film and television director and producer best known for directing beloved and critically acclaimed films such as Swingers, The Bourne Identity, Mr. & Mrs. Smith, American Made, and Edge of Tomorrow.
Liman’s television credits include Suits, The O.C., Covert Affairs, and the upcoming Netflix series The Recruit. He also serves on the board of the Legal Action Center and the Arthur Liman Center for Public Interest Law at Yale Law School.
Silver is returning to the beloved classic after serving as the producer on the original 1989 film Road House. Silver has also produced or executive produced over 100 films and television shows, including The Book of Eli, The Nice Guys, the Sherlock Holmes films, Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, the Lethal Weapon films, and the first three Matrix films.
His credits also include Swordfish, Demolition Man, Predator and Predator 2, Die Hard and Die Hard 2, Speed Racer, V for Vendetta, House of Wax, RocknRolla, Project X, Brewster’s Millions and 48 Hrs. He executive produced the original Veronica Mars series as well.
Mirko Parlevliet has been reporting on the entertainment industry since 1998 and founded Vital Thrills to cover the latest streaming, movie, TV, and game news.