Dan Gilroy had been writing movies for decades before he tried his hand at directing one, but when he did make his directorial debut, it was well worth the wait. Nightcrawler was one of the best movies of the decade, using the visual language of the neo-noir to bring the dark, disturbing world of stringers, who film gruesome crimes and sell the footage to news stations, to the big screen.
Jake Gyllenhaal went a long way toward selling the movie’s curious tone, bringing to life the empty sociopathy of Lou Bloom in startling, sometimes ad-libbed ways. Here are 10 fascinating details from the making of Nightcrawler.
10 Dan Gilroy First Came Up With The Idea In 1988
Dan Gilroy first came up with the seed of the idea that would eventually become Nightcrawler in 1988. He got a hold of the book Naked City, a collection of photographer Weegee’s pictures of New York in the ‘40s. Weegee sold gruesome, yet artful photos of crime scenes to newspapers, and Gilroy planned a Chinatown-esque film noir about his work.
Unfortunately for Gilroy, his plans were halted when Joe Pesci made a movie about Weegee’s life called The Public Eye. Gilroy changed the setting to the modern-day when he found out about stringers in present-day Los Angeles.
9 Jake Gyllenhaal Lost More Than 20lbs For This Movie
There’s starring in a movie as the headlining actor and then there’s Jake Gyllenhaal’s performance in Nightcrawler. The movie lives and dies with Gyllenhaal’s captivating portrayal of Lou Bloom. He appears in every single scene in the movie.
Gyllenhaal decided that Lou would resemble a hungry coyote out on the hunt, so he lost somewhere between 20 and 30 lbs to achieve a gaunt look.
8 The Producers Used Experimental Viral Marketing Techniques On Social Media
When the producers of Nightcrawler were promoting the movie, they used various experimental viral marketing strategies to get the message out there.
This included creating a fictional video résumé for the Lou Bloom character and posting it on Craigslist, and also creating several fake social media profiles for the character for fans to follow.
7 Dan Gilroy Wrote The Role Of Nina Specifically For His Wife Rene Russo
Writer-director Dan Gilroy is married to Rene Russo, and he wrote the role of Nina in Nightcrawler specifically for her. Gilroy felt that the role could easily turn into a one-dimensional cliché, and that Russo would be able to bring real humanity and vulnerability to the character.
Russo didn’t know that Gilroy was writing Nina specifically for her to play, and became interested in playing the role on her own accord, as she felt that playing a desperate person would be an exciting acting challenge.
6 The Cinematographer Is Jake Gyllenhaal’s Godfather
The cinematographer who shot the beautiful, slick neo-noir imagery in Nightcrawler, Robert Elswit, is Jake Gyllenhaal’s godfather. This isn’t how he landed the gig; it’s just a coincidence. Director Dan Gilroy had already met Elswit when he did some script work on The Bourne Legacy.
The two began a creative partnership and started writing up a shot list for Nightcrawler months before it went into production. The shot of Lou sitting at the news anchor’s desk, shown on the studio’s camera monitor, was one of Elswit’s own suggestions.
5 Lou Was Initially Conceived As A More Traditional Hero
Initially, Dan Gilroy was going to anchor the story of Nightcrawler with a more traditional heroic character, with the usual traits of a likable lead. However, he couldn’t create a hero who was interesting enough for this world.
That’s when he decided to flip the script and came up with an anti-hero who would essentially be a sociopath and defy the “rules” of movie protagonists.
4 The Mirror Smashing Was Improvised By Jake Gyllenhaal
During the scene in which Lou yells at himself in the mirror, Jake Gyllenhaal improvised smashing the mirror. He actually cut his hand, and director Dan Gilroy had to drive him to the hospital after getting the shot.
After a 19-hour working day, Gyllenhaal needed to get 46 stitches across a four-hour surgery. He returned to the set just six hours after being discharged from the hospital. This explains why Lou keeps his hand behind his back in the scene with the scrapyard owner.
3 Lou’s Plant Was Originally A Dog
Lou continually waters a plant in his apartment throughout Nightcrawler. Showing him looking after something was an intentional effort to make Lou slightly less reprehensible. In the original script, the thing he looked after in his apartment was a dog.
This was changed to a plant because the dog was a nightmare on the set. This alteration might’ve been for the best, as showing Lou looking after a dog might’ve had the adverse effect of making him too likable.
2 Jake Gyllenhaal Did A Lot Of His Own Driving Stunts
Just as Ryan Gosling did for 2011’s Drive, Jake Gyllenhaal did a lot of his own driving stunts for Nightcrawler. He even did the driving in the climactic car chase at the height of the third act.
1 Dan Gilroy Initially Planned To Give Lou A Backstory
When he was putting together the screenplay for Nightcrawler, Dan Gilroy planned to give Lou Bloom a fleshed-out backstory that would explain how he came to be so corrupted. He’d be presented as more of a victim who’d suffered traumas.
However, Gilroy decided that it would be more interesting and unsettling for Lou not to have any backstory. His past is completely unknown; he just drifts onto the screen like a force of nature.
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