UFC legend Conor McGregor decided to bare all in his movie debut.
‘Notorious’ rejected several acting gigs before deciding to star alongside Jake Gyllenhaal in the Road House remake, which will be available to stream on Prime Video from March 21.
McGregor plays the bad guy in his film debutCredit: @TheNotoriousMMA – x
McGregor’s performance as a hired mercenary named Knox has earned him rave reviews from critics who watched the film’s debut last week.
Some of them couldn’t help being distracted by the fact the UFC superstar’s first scene sees him fully naked like Arnold Schwarzenegger was in the 1984 classic The Terminator.
“It was a little too much ass,” he said with a laugh at a cast and crew Q&A.
“Just a little too much. The last shot was not necessary. Could have just been the back. The back was solid. I’m just here to perform.”
McGregor’s unlikely friendship with Schwarzenegger has been well-documented over the years, and he claims it was the 76-year-old who inspired him to strip down for Road House.
“Arnold Schwarzenegger, who’s a good friend of mine, his lady Heather is my physical therapist, [she] has helped me throughout my career, helped me from my world title from 2013 on, I became real close with Arnold,” McGregor told Backstage.
“Arnold’s first debut into the movie game was very similar. Boom, lands down, solid as a rock. If Arnie done it, and f****** look at his career, I said maybe I’m onto something.
“I just rocked with it, and I channelled the inner Arnie, the inner Terminator there and just rocked on.”
Schwarzenegger struck up a friendship with McGregor during his early days in the UFCCredit: @TheNotoriousMMA – Twitter
Schwarzenegger famously appeared nude in his first movieCredit: Getty
McGregor was uncharacteristically nervous before his acting debut, but after watching the finished product, he feels confident moving forward.
He added: “It’s very hard work for sure.
“All the characters, when I saw them come to life on the screen, I thought to myself as I was watching the movie, ‘I’m going to f*** this up, I’m going to ruin [the movie], I’m no actor.’
“But what I do when I’m looking [at the movie] with the crowd, I have a lot more to give. I feel I have a lot more.”