Conor McGregor Jokes About “Road House” Nude Scene: 'I Just Hope My Mother's Okay With It' (Exclusive)

The MMA fighter makes his film debut in the 'Road House' remake, which releases on Prime Video on March 21

Conor McGregor's film debut leaves little to the imagination — and he's not afraid to joke about it!

The MMA fighter, 35, spoke to PEOPLE at South by Southwest (SXSW) in Austin, Texas, on Friday, and described his hope for how his nude scene in Road House goes over. "I just hope my mother's okay with it," he jokes. "I didn't tell her, I couldn't tell her."

"I said to myself, 'Arnold Schwarzenegger entered the movie business in a similar manner when he was standing on the thing in The Terminator,' so that kind of gave me a bit of confidence," McGregor adds. "I thought, 'I'll do it. I don't mind.' It's going to be a shock to people, I think."

The remake of the 1989 film of the same name — which premiered at the Texas festival this past weekend and arrives on Prime Video on March 21 — had star Jake Gyllenhaal following quite the workout and nutritional routine to get into peak shape for the role.

As for McGregor, he explains that one scene in particular had a unique personal requirement of its own: channeling his "free spirit."

"I just got into just going naked and walking through the street — that was it," he tells PEOPLE. "I just did it. I'm a free spirit. I was in good shape, so I have no problem with it."

The process of making the movie as a whole, he says, was ultimately "hard work" for the professional athlete. "I was taken aback by how hard it is and had a deep respect for the craft," he explains.

Related: Jake Gyllenhaal Looks Jacked in New Shirtless Photos from Road House Set

McGregor's comments come as Gyllenhaal also spoke with PEOPLE about his work in Road House, in which he plays Elwood Dalton — a former UFC fighter who becomes a bar bouncer at a roadhouse in the Florida Keys. Jessica Williams, Post Malone and Daniela Melchior also appear in the film, which originally starred the late Patrick Swayze in 1989.

As Gyllenhaal explained, preparing for Road House "took a village."

"I'll tell you that being where I am — 10 years ago I made Southpaw, which is another fight movie, and I was in a different place. My body was, I knew that I needed help with nutrition and I knew I needed to keep myself safe from injury and I needed to also be able to have the aesthetics of the whole role," Gyllenhaal told PEOPLE.

"So balancing all that took a group of people helping me all the time," he added.

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The actor also gave credit to his "incredible" trainer Jason Walsh and "wonderful" chef Paulette Tejeda, as well as a nutritionist, adding that he had "an incredible group of people constantly handing me food, making it happen, making sure there was flexibility."

"But we trained about an hour, an hour and a half, every day before work," Gyllenhaal told PEOPLE. "And then we always had to sort of taper depending on what the schedule called for. So if the schedule called for more fighting and action where I needed more energy, we would do less. And then you'd sort of get it throughout the day. So yeah, it was a village and I listened to what they said and this is the result."

Road House is set to release on Prime Video on March 21.

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