Jake Gyllenhaal: I felt naked filming Southpaw

Jake Gyllenhaal felt ”naked” while filming ‘Southpaw’.

The 34-year-old actor, who plays Billy ‘The Great’ Hope in the Antoine Fuqua-directed boxing movie, has revealed he found shooting the in-the-ring scenes to be surreal.

He shared: ”Even when you’re only filming a fight, even when it’s a movie, in the ring you feel totally naked.

”It’s a strange thing, 700 extras watching.”

But Jake also admitted that while some aspects of the shoot were a bit ”reckless”, he was always conscious of capturing the most dramatic action scenes.

He told the Guardian newspaper: ”The thing was, whenever I took a real hit, my first thought was always: ‘Someone better have got a good f***ing angle on that.’ That’s an actor.

”It may have all been a bit reckless.”

Meanwhile, Jake revealed he’s forever looking for roles that consider ”what it is to be a man”.

He explained: ”I’ve realised I’m fascinated with what it is to be a man. And as a man, physicality is important. I’ve gone on searches …

”I mean, pushing myself to the limit.

”With ‘Nightcrawler’, I was searching for a physical, chemical state that would come from depriving myself. I was interested in what that would bring out. It wasn’t about losing weight. It was about what happens with a certain kind of deprivation.”