Road Housedirector Doug Liman comments on the film’s CGI fight scenes after pushback on the technique from within the industry and beyond. Serving as a remake of 1989’sRoad Housestarring Patrick Swayze, Liman’s film landed on Prime Video earlier this year, with Jake Gyllenhaal stepping into the role of Dalton, a bouncer at a violent Florida bar.Reviews for 2024’sRoad Housewere mixed from critics, and the film’s use of CGI during fight scenes – deployed to make it look as if punches were actually connecting – proved to be a particular sticking point.
In a recent interview withEmpiremagazine, Liman explains his decision to so heavily implement VFX techniques into theRoad Housefight scenes, revealing that it stemmed from not wanting to be limited artistically regarding where he can place the camera in a scene. In addition to breaking down exactly how visual effects were accomplished, with each impact comprising multiple shots composited together, the director also affirms thatthis is how he’ll shoot fight scenes moving forward. Check out Liman’s comments below:
I was really excited about the idea of making Road House, because I liked the story and I thought Jake would be awesome, but on the other hand, I can’t spend two hours shooting fake bar-fights. I’m just gonna get bored. It’s not the loftiest aspiration to be like, “I’m gonna reinvent how fights are shot just to keep myself from getting bored,” but when you’re making a movie like Road House, it’s going to have a lot of bar-fighting. How am I going to make that interesting for me, as a filmmaker?
Part of why shooting fights is a little boring to me is that you’re constrained about where you can put the camera and where you put the edits because people are not actually punching each other. I thought, “I just want to put the camera where I would put it as a filmmaker if they were actually hitting each other. I’m putting the camera here, so how can we make it look like the fist is connecting with the face?” That required bringing in visual effects.
So if Conor McGregor’s punching Jake Gyllenhaal, I would do a first pass where you’re able to clearly see Conor is not actually punching Jake, but it’s the shot I want. Then we do a second pass where we pull Jake out and put a pad where Jake’s face is, and Conor punches the pad for real. And then do another pass where we would take Conor out and put Jake in and hit Jake in the face with a pad. And then a fourth pass in slow motion where you see Conor’s fist and Jake’s face make contact and his face deforms around that. And then you combine all of that together.
Now I’ve done it this way, I could never go back. I look at other movies, and it looks so fake to me.
Jake Gyllenhaal vs. Patrick Swayze: Which Version Of Road House’s Dalton Would Win In A Fight
After watching the two Road House films, it is hard not to be curious whether Jake Gyllenhaal’s Dalton would beat Patrick Swayze’s version in a fight.
Why Doug Liman’s Decision Was Controversial
TheRoad Houseremake has only a 59% onRotten Tomatoes, suggesting it has problems beyond the VFX used in its fight scenes. The fight scenes, however, were singled out in multiple reviews for looking somewhat jarring or unconvincing, but it wasn’t just critics that took issue with the technique. Action movie legendScott Adkins took to X, formerly Twitter, to share a generally positive review of 2024’sRoad House, but he took issue with the use of VFX, arguing that “Swayze didn’t need it” in the 1989 film.
Adkins recently appeared as part of thecast ofJohn Wick: Chapter 4, but he’s also starred in movies likeDay Shift(2022) andThe Expendables 2(2012).
Though there have been advancements and changes over the years,movie fight scenes have largely been accomplished using the same methods for decades. The cameras are put in specific positions to hide the fact that actors or stunt performers aren’t actually hitting each other, and editing and sound design are also used to help sell an impact. It’s certainly admirable that Liman attempted to evolve this process by using modern technology to give him more freedom as a filmmaker and to present a fight scene to audiences in a way that they haven’t seen before.
In practice, however,Road House’s CGI fight sceneswere hit or miss.It’s unfair to make a blanket statement about the technique because many impacts in the remake did look very convincing, but there were others that looked unnatural or manipulated. As the first time this technique has ever really been used, there’s still a lot of room for improvement, and theannouncedRoad House 2could end up looking a lot better in this regard. For his part, Liman will clearly be using this fight scene method moving forward in theRoad Housefranchise and beyond.
Road House
Cast
Road House is a remake of the original 1989 film, which followed protagonist Dalton, a Ph.D. educated bouncer at the roughest bar in the south known as the Double Deuce. Jake Gyllenhaal stars as Dalton, with two major changes including Dalton being a retired UFC fighter and the bar locale being in the Florida Keys.
