LOS ANGELES, Ca. -- 'Nightcrawler' is a slick thriller that examines an amoral world of crime and the news crews that exploit it, through the lens of Lou Bloom, played by a very sociopath-looking Jake Gyllenhaal. Gyllenhaal's stare in the movie was so creepy, it was a relief to encounter a regular guy -- who actually likes Seattle -- when we sat down to interview him.
"Seattle is very clean," said Gyllenhaal. "Food was wonderful, people are nice, not a bad thing to say about Seattle."
But then, the truth came out.
"It's a little too clean...if I were to have any qualms about Seattle. But I live in New York City."
Los Angeles is the setting for 'Nightcrawler' and here, nothing's clean.
Nightcrawlers are freelance photographers who chase police calls -- then sell footage to the news.
Gyllenhaal's character, Lou Bloom, decides it's the perfect job -- and stops at nothing to get his shots.
For inspiration, Gyllenhaal looked to an animal: "Dan Gilroy, the write/director and I talked a lot about how Lou was a coyote personified, I wanted to look like that I wanted to feel like that. A lot of coyotes are starving. So I decided to start trying to look like that." Gyllenhaal said.
The actor dropped 25 pounds, and actually went to an emergency room for stitches after shooting a scene where he breaks a mirror in a fit of rage. Yep. It's an intense film.
His costar, Rene Russo found inspiration much closer to home to play jaded news producer Nina.
"Well, listen, It's based on me. Every sort of desperation I've had I've looked at, and every time I've crossed a moral boundary it's been because I've been scared to death. And afraid," Russo said.
This actress sums up 'Nightcrawler' perfectly:
"There's a sociopath in all of us."
'Nightcrawler' is produced by Open Road Films, it opens Oct. 31 and it's rated R.
