Is Jake Gyllenhaal's boxing movie Southpaw inspired by a true story?

The movie Southpaw, starring Jake Gyllenhaal, follows fictional boxer Billy Hope as he reels from the trauma of losing his wife and then having custody of his daughter temporarily taken from him as he struggles with grief, addiction, and his fall from stardom in boxing.

The movie is a story about overcoming grief and finding one's way back to their path in life. Viewers can watch Hope lose everything, then restart his life from the bottom and work his way back to the top of boxing.

But was this movie based on a real-life story? The answer is yes, sort of.

There wasn't a boxer Kurt Sutter, the screenwriter, had in mind when he wrote the film, but the story was an unnoffical sequel to the movie 8 Mile, starring Eminem. The film was supposed to be symbolic of the events in Eminem's life journey, including the relationship Hope and his daughter have in the film. Originally, Sutter had wanted Eminem to fill the role of Billy Hope, but he had turned down most features after 8 Mile.

While Jake Gyllenhaal replaced him, Eminem still wrote the song 'Kings Never Die' and 'Phenomenal' for the soundtrack.

Gyllenhaal posted this photo of him and his sister to Instagram:

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How did Jake Gyllenhaal prepare for his role as Billy Hope?

When Southpaw came out in 2015, many were stunned by the physical transformation Jake Gyllenhaal went through to fill the role of Billy Hope.

The actor gained 15 pounds of muscle for the role, and director Antoine Fuqua stated Gyllenhaal worked out 6 hours a day for 6 months. He was reported to do 1,000 sit-ups, run 8 miles, then go through boxing and weight training. He ended his day with another 1,000 sit-ups. This was a pretty big difference in appearance compared to the role he had filled before as a skinny stringer in Nightcrawler, for which he lost about 30lbs.

The seriousness with which Gyllenhaal took on the role of Billy Hope showed in his performance on screen.

Gyllenhaal is now set to work with MMA star Conor McGregor in the remake of Road House.