Jake Gyllenhaal in Talks to Star in Boxing Drama 'Southpaw'
Fri, November 1, 2013 
Following two fantastic performances in both last year's End of Watch and this year's Prisoners, Jake Gyllenhaal is close to signing on for the boxing drama, Southpaw.
The film, which was to originally star rapper Eminem in the title role, tells the story of a left-handed prizefighter who after being hit by tragedy, must earn back both his career and the respect of his young daughter.
Antoine Fuqua (Training Day) is set to direct with Kurt Sutter (Sons of Anarchy) having written the script.
The project was originally set up over at Dreamworks, then after going through the hands of both Sony and MGM, the Weinstein Comapny rescued it. Eminem was going to play the 'father fighting for redemption' to parallel his real-life story, but the rapper decided to drop out even though director Fuqua stayed on-board.
Gyllenhaal - whose getting early Oscar buzz for his work in Prisoners - seems to finally be hitting the phase for more mature, dramatic roles as he's currently filming the crime thriller, Nightcrawler, playing a underground journalist (explaining is recent gaunt appearance).
Southpaw is set to start shooting next year so expect more news on the project in the coming months.
Source: The Wrap
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