Credit: Marvel Studios/Sony PicturesThe post-Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) road isn’t always a smooth ride, even for Academy Award-nominated actor Jake Gyllenhaal, whose latest project is being boycotted by its own director ahead of its premiere at South by Southwest (SXSW).
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Most fans would agree that the Tom Holland-fronted Spider-Man trilogy is some of the best MCU content to come out of the superhero studio in recent years, beginning in 2017 with Spider-Man: Homecoming. A sequel, Spider-Man: Far From Home (2019), then arrived two years later, with the critically acclaimed Spider-Man: No Way Home wrapping things up in 2021 — one of the sole highlights of Marvel’s divisive Phase Four, in the eyes of many.
In addition to Holland’s portrayal of the titular web-slinger, part of what made the Homecoming trilogy so successful was its villains, with Jake Gyllenhaal’s Quinten Beck (AKA Mysterio) being a particularly memorable antagonist in Far From Home. The comic book sequel marked Gyllenhaal’s first MCU outing, where he played the complex, morally dubious ex-employee of Stark Industries who tempts Peter Parker into lending him Tony Stark’s (Robert Downey Jr.) glasses to access Stark technology.
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Ultimately, Mysterio is defeated, but not before he exposes Spider-Man’s identity to the whole world via a pre-recorded message. So, while Quinten Beck may be dead and gone, he could easily be resurrected down the line as Marvel begins to roll out its Multiverse Saga in Phases Five and Six.
Until then, however, Gyllenhaal has set his sights on an ambitious new project titled Road House (2024), which is slated to premiere at SXSW in March. In the action flick, Gyllenhaal plays down-on-his-luck UFC fighter-turned-Florida Keys bouncer Elwood Dalton, who finds himself going up against security guard Knox (Conor McGregor) after a mega-resort chain threatens to tear down the roadhouse.
Road House certainly has the potential to be one of the first big hits of 2024, considering it’s a modern retelling of the 1989 Patrick Swayze-led classic of the same name. However, the film has already found itself mixed up in controversy after its director, Doug Liman, revealed in an editorial piece published to Deadline that he would be boycotting its opening-night premiere at SXSW due to disagreements with distributor Amazon MGM Studios.
According to Liman, who called Road House “maybe [his] best” movie he has done, he “signed up to make a theatrical motion picture for MGM” before the studio was acquired by Amazon, only for the company to go forward with a direct-to-streaming release.
The director made a passionate plea to Amazon, writing, “[This] hurts the filmmakers and stars of Road House who don’t share in the upside of a hit movie on a streaming platform,” adding of its leading man, “they deprive Jake Gyllenhaal — who gives a career-best performance — the opportunity to be recognized come award season. But the impact goes far beyond this one movie. This could be industry shaping for decades to come.”
Regardless of Liman’s thoughts on the matter, the controversy surrounding Road House hasn’t stopped Gyllenhaal from promoting it, as he took to social media Thursday morning to share the first full-length trailer for the action pic. Check it out (via Prime Video on YouTube) below:
Liman isn’t the first director to express outrage over distributors skipping theatrical releases in favor of promoting the streaming model, joining the ranks of filmmakers like Christopher Nolan, Patty Jenkins, and Martin Scorsese, who believe that movies are meant to be experienced on the big screen. As streaming services like Netflix and Max continue to grow their film and TV catalogs, this will likely be a recurring problem as the industry continues to undergo substantial changes behind the scenes.
As of now, Gyllenhaal has yet to respond to Liman’s boycott of Road House‘s SXSW premiere, and the movie is still slated to arrive on Prime Video next month. Despite its director’s very understandable outrage, Road House could cement itself as a modern classic if it really is as good as Liman claims it is. And with an actor like Jake Gyllenhaal at the helm (with a bit of help from UFC star Conor McGregor), hopefully, Road House will pack a punch.
Road House will be available for streaming exclusively on Prime Video beginning March 21, 2024.
Would you like to see Jake Gyllenhaal reprise his role as Quinten Beck in future Marvel stories? Let us know in the comments below!