Hasitha Fernando looks at the story behind Nightcrawler as it celebrates its 10th anniversary…
Dan Gilroy’s Nightcrawler offers audiences a glimpse into the dark side of stringer journalism where morals, media ethics and common decency are non-existent, and the value of a new item is dictated by the level of violence and controversy attached to it. As the riveting neo-noir thriller celebrates its 10th anniversary we take a look at what on behind-the-scenes during the making of the movie.
Dan Gilroy conceived the idea for his story three decades prior
Dan Gilroy started his writing career with a novel titled Sight Unseen which was published by Carroll & Graff publishers in 1989. Following his novel’s debut Gilroy took a stab at writing screenplays starting with the sci-fi thriller Freejack. After the success working on that film Gilroy penned the scripts for Chasers, Two for the Money, The Fall and Real Steel. Afterwards he joined his brother Tony Gilroy to co-write his directorial debut Bourne Legacy in 2012 and two years later Gilroy decided to helm his own movie with Nightcrawler.
Gilroy conceived the idea for Nightcrawler back in the late 1980s after he’d finished reading the photo-book Naked City, which was composed of photographs taken in 1940s post-Prohibition era New York, snapped by American photographer Arthur ‘Weegee’ Fellig. Gilroy described Weegee’s effort as “an amazing intersection of art and crime and commerce” and wrote a film treatment which was strongly reminiscent of Roman Polanski’s neo-noir mystery Chinatown. But after the release of The Public Eye in 1992 – which saw a cigar chomping Joe Pesci embody a character loosely based on Weegee – Gilroy shelved his idea indefinitely.
Lou Bloom’s character was crafted as more of an anti-hero
After Gilroy moved to Los Angeles he noticed that there was a marked predominance in reporting violent crime stories by the local news stations and it was during this time period that he discovered the stringer profession, which was a form of freelance journalism that focused on aspects not covered by mainstream media. Gilroy considered this to be the modern day equivalent to what Weegee did half-a-century prior and began writing a screenplay centered on the livelihood of stringers. After spending several years trying to craft a story that would fit the setting he’d chosen, Gilroy decided to focus first on designing the characters and building the story elements around them.
Gilroy once again hit a stumbling block as he had trouble envisioning the lead character as a textbook hero type, and instead opted to create an antihero influenced by movies like The King of Comedy, To Die For and The Talented Mr. Ripley. When creating Lou Bloom’s character Gilroy explored ideas of unemployment and capitalism, and its detrimental impact on individuals. Gilroy also purposefully didn’t give Lou’s character any backstory or character arc as he wanted the audiences to interpret what kind of a person he was and what his motivations were.
Jake Gyllenhaal was always the top pick for the lead role
Jake Gyllenhaal is one of those actors who have achieved great success in both small-scale independent films as well as big budget Hollywood tentpoles. After his breakout roles in October Sky and Donnie Darko the actor won unanimous acclaim for his captivating performance in Ang Lee’s romantic drama Brokeback Mountain. Gyllenhaal’s career progressed further with his work through critically lauded efforts such as Zodiac, Source Code and Prisoners. In between the talented creative nearly even got cast as Peter Parker/Spider-Man on Spider-Man 2 when Tobey Maguire’s return was in doubt.
From the get-go Gyllenhaal was always Gilroy’s top pick for the role of Lou Bloom and the filmmaker even travelled all the way to Atlanta to meet him whilst he was shooting Prisoners to convince the actor to take the gig. Gilroy’s engrossing script and passion for the project gave enough reasons for Gyllenhaal to sign on, and from that moment henceforth the actor became heavily involved in almost every aspect of production, from watching audition tapes to picking members of the crew and also producing the picture.
Jake Gyllenhaal engaged in a strict exercise & diet regime to become Lou Bloom
At the very outset of production both Gilroy and Gyllenhaal had extensive discussions about how they envisioned their lead character – Lou Bloom. Gilroy saw Lou as a coyote, a nocturnal predator prowling the streets of L.A driven by a perpetual hunger, and Gyllenhaal took this comment almost literally and engaged in a strict exercise and diet regime to become the character. He ran fifteen miles daily and ate nothing but kale salads and chewing gum in order to lose weight and gain a more gaunt appearance. Gyllenhaal ended up losing nearly thirty pounds and although some disagreed with this decision Gilroy didn’t want to intervene as Gyllenhaal was respectful enough to not alter his script in any way during the shoot.
Riz Ahmed was one of 75 actors who auditioned for the role of Rick
Riz Ahmed has come a long way since his days as an actor on British indie-films like The Road to Guantanamo, Shifty and Four Lions. As of writing, the talented young performer has earned nominations at the Academy Awards, BAFTAs as well as the Golden Globes for his performances and isn’t showing any signs of slowing down. Ahmed was one of seventy-five who auditioned for the role of Rick in Nightcrawler. Gilroy met the actor whilst he was attending a friend’s wedding in Los Angeles and although the filmmaker harbored his doubts about Ahmed he allowed him to audition. However, Gilroy changed his mind immediately within the first few minutes of Ahmed’s audition tape and cast him in the role. While previous actors who auditioned for the same role envisioned the character as more of a laid-back surfer dude, Ahmed’s approach was far different and sadder which appealed to Gilroy. In preparation for his role Ahmed met with the homeless in Skid Row and explored homeless shelters to gain better insight into his character.
Rene Russo initially struggled on how to interpret her character
Model turned actress Rene Russo rose to prominence in the 1990s with a string of successful thrillers and actioners that include Lethal Weapon 3, In the Line of Fire, Outbreak, Get Shorty and The Thomas Crown Affair. It was at this same period that Russo met his future husband-to-be Dan Gilroy on the set of Freejack which he also co-wrote. When he was crafting Nightcrawler’s script, at the very outset, Gilroy specifically wrote the part of Nina for his wife as he felt Russo could bring a sense of vulnerability to her character. At first, Russo struggled with the character as she had never portrayed a desperate woman or a victim in a movie before. But once she recalled experiences where she herself crossed moral boundaries during certain situations out of desperation and fear, the actress was able to grasp and understand Nina’s motivations better.
An intense scene led to Jake Gyllenhaal suffering a serious injury
Jake Gyllenhaal’s performance in Nightcrawler was equal parts disturbing and intense at the same time. One specific scene, which was used extensively in the film’s marketing, sees Gyllenhaal screaming at himself in the mirror and subsequently breaking it. During the shooting of the actual scene the actor was not supposed to break the mirror but Gyllenhaal got so into character that he accidentally broke the mirror and cut his hand. He was driven to a nearby hospital by Gilroy himself after a hectic nineteen-hour day shoot and received forty-six stitches following a four-hour long operation. Gyllenhaal returned to set six hours after being discharged and continued working without disrupting production. This is the reason why the actor had his hand behind his back in the scene where he told his iconic motto to the scrapyard owner at the beginning of the film.
Gyllenhaal & Ahmed trained with actual ‘stringers’ in preparation for the film
The Raishbrook Brothers – Austin, Howard and Mark – were three enterprising lads from Devon, England who turned their hobby of chasing police sirens as children into a lucrative business in Los Angeles. Armed with a cheap police scanner, a not-so-fancy camera and a low-priced car the siblings started prowling the streets of L.A in search of shock inducing events that could be fed into the 24-hour news cycle of local media outlets. Since both Gyllenhaal and Ahmed play “stringers” in the movie they trained under the Raishbrook Brothers for a brief period, in preparation for the film. Two of the brothers even have a brief cameo in the movie where Lou arrives late to video a structure fire, during the beginning of the film.
A bidding war, box office wins & awards accolades
An unfinished cut of Nightcrawler that was screened at the 2014 Cannes Film Festival immediately ignited a massive bidding war between several distribution companies including A24, Focus Features, The Weinstein Company, Open Road Films and Fox Searchlight Pictures. Open Road Films emerged victor by acquiring the distribution rights in the USA for an approximate sum of $4.5 million. Initially slated to be released on October 17, the release date was pushed back to October 31 in order to avoid competition with several big-budget efforts like Dracula Untold and Fury. Made on a production budget of $8.5 million, Nightcrawler went on to make a respectable $50.3 million based largely on positive word-of-mouth.
The film also proved to be a bona fide hit with film critics as evidenced by the 95% approval rating on review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes. Christopher Orr of The Atlantic compared Gyllenhaal’s electrifying performance to a young Robert De Niro in Taxi Driver and The King of Comedy, feeling Gyllenhaal’s character shared many characteristics with the characters in those two films. Ben Sachs of the Chicago Reader showered high-praise on Gilroy’s direction, and how the filmmaker was able to command an “uncommon assurance” from both the cast and crew, despite this being his first gig in the director’s chair.
Come awards season Nightcrawler received multiple nominations at the Academy Awards, BAFTAs, Golden Globe Awards and Screen Actors Guild Awards. But while Dan Gilroy’s astounding screenplay received an Oscar nomination Jake Gyllenhaal’s incendiary performance was left ignored by the Academy, which led to a massive backlash. Regardless, it’s hard to argue with the fact that Nightcrawler was one of the finest efforts to debut in the 2010s which also featured a tour de force by Jake Gyllenhaal and an engrossing story which explored the darker side of stringer journalism.
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Hasitha Fernando is a part-time medical practitioner and full-time cinephile. Follow him on Twitter via @DoctorCinephile for regular updates on the world of entertainment.