Conor McGregor made his Hollywood debut in the new remake of Patrick Swayze’s 1989 classic Road House alongside acting veterans Jake Gyllenhaal and Lukas Gage.
The 28-year-old, who goes toe-to-toe with the UFC legend in one scene, admitted he had to go through “absolutely insane” training to match Conor’s fighting prowess even when he was pulling his punches.
However, despite how “scary” it was for the White Lotus star to walk on-set and face his advisory, Lukas revealed that Conor is vastly different outside of his fighting moments than what fans might expect.
Speaking to Daily Express at the film’s London premiere, he warned fans of stereotyping the mixed martial arts icon: “You see Conor McGregor and you have this preconceived idea of who he is as a fighter but I think he’s also playing a character.
“He’s so sweet and he’s so kind. He’s here right now with his whole family and just gave me a big hug.”
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“He’s playing into this version of himself but the real him is one of the nicest guys.”
In hindsight, Lukas finds it “hilarious” how terrified he was of going against the debut actor “now that I know him”.
But he’s admittedly still not keen on having “a fight with him in real life”.
Elsewhere on the premiere’s red carpet, Daniela Melchior, who plays Ellie the love interest of Jake Gyllenhaal’s Dalton, revealed not everything went to plan on the exotic, action-packed set.
In one particular scene, Ellie sweeps Dalton away for a romantic date on a sandbank, with the pair relaxing on chairs in ankle-deep water as they soak up the sunshine.
However, this picturesque moment was actually the second date the pair went on, as the 27-year-old revealed: “Basically, in that scene where we’re sitting and it’s very romantic, very beautiful with the landscape and everything.
“The first time we went to the wrong sandbar we had water until here,” she says gesturing to her waist.
“We weren’t sitting, we were floating! We had my cooler floating around, the beers were floating (away) from us. It was so so awkward.”
Road House is available to stream on Amazon Prime.