15 fun facts about “Southpaw”! (List)

Read them in the list below!

1. Τhe movie was written with Eminem in mind, he was asked to play the lead character and said yes. Weeks before shooting began, Eminem backed out citing ‘scheduling conflicts’.

2. The boxing scenes shot in Vegas and Madison square garden were all done at the same location over 2 weeks. The Indiana University of Pennsylvania (IUP) was used to simulate both fight locations.

3. The film was originally considered as an unofficial follow-up to the movie 8 Mile (2002) with Eminem reprising his role. The script eventually evolved and that idea was scrapped.

4. Jake Gyllenhaal studied Miguel Cotto’s boxing style in order to develop his character.

5. Jake Gyllenhaal was chosen by the director who felt he would train hard for the role.

6. Antoine Fuqua had no money to pay James Horner to compose the film due to the films short budget. However, James didn’t care as he loved the idea of the film and decided to do it for free.

7. Gyllenhaal trained for 8 months straight, twice a day, everyday including weekends. The director trained with him everyday to get him motivated.

8. Eminem loved Jake’s performance in the movie so much, he recorded songs for the soundtrack.

9. The title of the film is a reference to the eponymous stance traditionally adopted by a left handed boxer. The term “Southpaw” is also slang for a left handed person.

10. Skylan Brooks’s character, named Hoppy, pays homage to Eminem’s character in 8 Mile (2002), named B-Rabbit

11. Ryan Gosling, Bradley Cooper and Jeremy Renner were all considered for the role.

12. The scene where Billy Hope(Jake Gyllenhaal)meets Tick Willis(Forrest Whitaker) at his boxing school was actually filmed in Pittsburgh,Pa but was made to look like the Bronx section of New York city. The street signs were changed,NY cabs were brought in and fake graffiti was painted in the walls all to give the neighborhood a authentic NY neighborhood look.

13. Originally Harry Gregson-Williams was announced as the film’s composer. Gregson-Williams even stated in an interview in late 2014 that he was already writing the score. Not too long after that, James Horner was announced as the composer.

14. Southpaw is the term given to unorthodox stance (left-handed) boxers, however Gyllenhaal is right handed – therefore orthodox. He only adopts the southpaw stance in the final fight under instruction from his trainer Tick (Whittaker). Eminem was originally cast as Billy Hope and is left-handed making the film title more suitable.

15. Eminem appeared in two songs for the movie, “Phenomenal” and “Kings Never Die”. But he executive produced the rest of the album.