Nightcrawler is a 2014 American neo-noir satirical thriller film written and directed by Dan Gilroy in his directorial debut. It stars Jake Gyllenhaal as an unhinged stringer who seeks out violent and morbid events late at night in Los Angeles so he can film them and sell the exclusive footage to a local television news station. The supporting cast includes Rene Russo, Riz Ahmed, and Bill Paxton.
Gilroy originally wanted to make a film about the life of the American photographer Weegee, but switched focus after discovering the unique narrative possibilities surrounding the stringer profession. He wrote the protagonist as an antihero, based on the ideas of unemployment and capitalism; a common theme in the film is the symbiotic relationship between unethical journalism and consumer demand. Gyllenhaal served as a producer on the film and played a pivotal role in its creation, becoming involved in choosing members of the crew and watching other actors' audition tapes. Filming was a challenging process, taking place across 80 locations over the course of four weeks.
Open Road Films utilized viral marketing to promote Nightcrawler, including a fictional video résumé on Craigslist and fake social media profiles for the protagonist. The film premiered at the 2014 Toronto International Film Festival on September 15 and was released theatrically on October 31, going on to gross $50.3 million against a budget of $8.5 million and gaining a cult following in the process. It was met with widespread praise, especially Gilroy's screenplay and the performances of Gyllenhaal and Russo. Several critics listed Nightcrawler as one of the best films of 2014 and it received various accolades, including a Best Original Screenplay nomination at the 87th Academy Awards. Gyllenhaal was nominated as Lead Actor for the Actor Award, BAFTA Award, Golden Globe Award and Critics' Choice Movie Award, with his non-nomination in the Best Actor Oscar category considered by many to be a snub.
Plot
At a Los Angeles rail yard, petty thief Louis "Lou" Bloom attacks a guard, taking his watch and stealing manhole covers, fencing, and other materials. While trying to sell the stolen materials at a scrap yard, Lou asks the foreman for a job. The foreman, knowing everything is stolen, refuses to hire a thief. While driving home, Lou spots a car crash and pulls over. Stringers—freelance photojournalists—arrive and record the burning wreckage and police response. One stringer, Joe Loder, explains to Lou how they sell film footage to local news stations. Joe declines Lou's request for a job.
Lou steals an expensive bicycle and pawns it for a camcorder and a police radio scanner. After two unsuccessful attempts at recording incidents, Lou records the aftermath of a fatal carjacking and sells the footage to KWLA 6. The morning news director, Nina Romina, says the station is especially interested in "graphic" footage of accidents and violent crime in affluent, predominantly white areas. Lou hires Rick, a young homeless man desperate for money, as his assistant. To create more dramatic film footage, Lou tampers with crime scenes, in one case moving a body for a better camera angle. As Lou's work gains traction, he buys better equipment and a faster car.
Lou is a quick learner and establishes a working relationship with Nina at KWLA6. Knowing Nina's two-year contract is nearly up and that she needs higher ratings to keep her job, he threatens to sell his footage to other stations unless she agrees to a sexual relationship, higher payment, and on-air credit for his footage. Recognizing Lou as a competitor, Joe offers to hire him as his second van to cover the whole LA area, but Lou declines. Joe beats him to an important plane crash story and gloats to Lou. Nina berates Lou, demanding he get better footage to keep their bargain. In the daytime, Lou drives to Joe's house and tampers with his van which is parked outside. Joe is later severely injured in a car crash, and Lou records the aftermath.
Lou and Rick arrive before the police at the site of a triple-homicide home invasion in Granada Hills. Lou films the gunmen leaving in a Cadillac Escalade as well as the victims in the house. He presents the footage to the station after editing out the perpetrators. The news staff frets over the ethics of using the footage, but Nina is eager to break the story. In exchange, Lou demands public credit, more money, and that Nina unhesitatingly meet his sexual demands. Police detective Frontieri questions Lou regarding his connection to the home invasion. Lou gives her edited footage of the incident that omits the gunmen.
That night, Lou and Rick track one gunman to his house, staking it out. Uneasy, Rick negotiates a raise and promotion, which helps salve his worry. Lou delays calling the police, wanting a more public area for recording the arrest, predicting it will be violent. Alarmed at possible innocents being hurt, Rick reopens negotiation, irritating Lou. He demands half the $50,000 reward money for locating the gunman and threatens to tell the police about Lou withholding evidence. Under duress, Lou is forced to acquiesce.
The gunman then leaves and picks up his partner. Lou and Rick follow them to a crowded diner, where Lou calls the police, warning them the suspects are armed. The police arrive, where they shoot and kill one of the gunmen after a police officer is shot, and the other escapes in the Escalade. Lou and Rick follow close behind the pursuing police, filming it, which culminates in a long multiple-car collision. Lou approaches the gunman's crashed vehicle and peers inside, then instructs Rick to film the aftermath, claiming the gunman is dead. Lou sets up for a wide shot. As Rick peers inside the car, he is shot by the gunman. The gunman attempts to flee on foot but is shot dead by arriving police. As Rick lies dying, he accuses Lou of knowing the gunman was alive. Lou, filming Rick, says he cannot work with an untrustworthy employee.
Nina is awed by the chase footage and expresses devotion to Lou. The news team discovers that the home invasion was actually the criminals breaking in to steal the homeowner's cocaine stash. Nina holds the story until the following night's news to maximize the story's dramatic impact. Police try to confiscate Lou's footage as evidence, but Nina defends her legal right to withhold it and immediately airs it. Lou voluntarily speaks with Detective Frontieri and fabricates a story about the men in the Escalade following him. Frontieri accuses Lou of lying but lacks evidence. Later, Lou now has two vans (as Joe had) and hires a team of interns to expand his film business, telling them that he will not ask them to do anything he is unwilling to do himself.
Cast Jake Gyllenhaal as Louis "Lou" Bloom Rene Russo as Nina Romina Riz Ahmed as Rick Bill Paxton as Joe Loder Kevin Rahm as Frank Kruse Michael Hyatt as Detective Frontieri Ann Cusack as Linda Carolyn Gilroy, the daughter of editor John Gilroy and niece of director Dan Gilroy as KWLA 6 employee Jenny Michael Papajohn as Security Guard James Huang as Marcus Mayhem Video Eric Lange as Ace Video Cameraman Kiff VandenHeuvel as Editor Myra Turley as Female Neighbour Jamie McShane as Freaked Motorist Leah Fredkin as Female Anchor Kent Shocknek as himself Pat Harvey as herself Sharon Tay as herself Rick Garcia as himself Bill Seward as himself
Themes According to Dean Biron of Overland, "Nightcrawler is a shattering critique of both modern-day media practice and consumer culture." Throughout the film, Nina sensationalizes news headlines in an attempt to increase viewership. PopMatters Jon Lisi believes that, because of Nina's actions, the film specifically targets journalists who exaggerate headlines in order to combat a decline in viewership. Ed Rampell of The Progressive offers similar commentary, stating: "Nightcrawler contends that ethnic and class biases are used to determine what is, and is not, deemed 'worthy' of news coverage. Local politics and related matters that actually affect viewers' lives get short shrift." As much as the film indicts modern journalism, Nightcrawler director Dan Gilroy noted that his goal was for audiences to realize that by watching sensationalized news stories, they themselves are encouraging unethical journalism. Biron argues that Lou's character in the film is created because of consumer demand, and that he is a "reflection of the symbiotic relationship between commercial imperatives and audience desire". Critics Alyssa Rosenberg and Sam Adams argue that Nightcrawler is not so much a critique of journalism, but instead a depiction of Lou's entitlement.
The exact genre of Nightcrawler has been the subject of debate. While most critics agree that the film predominantly features thriller elements, other descriptions have been used, including dark comedy, drama, horror, and neo-noir. When asked about the film's genre, Gilroy stated: "I see Nightcrawler as having genre elements in the sense that it's a thriller. It also has some strong dramatic elements and I think I understand the question as there's some really strong elements of drama." Gyllenhaal particularly noted the comedic elements, commenting: "Gilroy and I were laughing pretty much the whole movie."
Production
Development
Gilroy conceived the idea for Nightcrawler in 1988, after reading the photo-book Naked City, a collection of photographs taken by American photographer Weegee of 1940s New York City residents at night. Often lewd and sensationalized in content, Weegee would sell these photos to tabloid newspapers. Intrigued by what he described as "an amazing intersection of art and crime and commerce", Gilroy wrote a film treatment with a "Chinatown feel". He shelved the idea after the release of The Public Eye (1992), which was loosely based on Weegee's life. Two years later, he moved to Los Angeles, and noted the predominance of violent crime stories on local news stations. "I suddenly became aware of and intrigued by the idea that it must be a powerful force for a TV station, when they realize their ratings go through the roof when they show something with the potential for violence, like a police chase", says Gilroy. Sometime later, he discovered the stringer profession, and considered it to be the modern day equivalent of Weegee. Unaware of any film that focused on the livelihood of stringers, he began writing a screenplay.
Gilroy spent several years trying to write a plot that would fit the setting, and experimented with conspiracies and murder mysteries as central story elements. Eventually, he decided to instead start by designing the characters, and attempted to create a standard literary hero character. Unable to create an interesting hero, he then envisioned an antihero as the lead character. Gilroy felt antiheroes were a rarity in films, because they are difficult to write, and usually devolve into psychopaths; in an attempt to break from the stereotype, he thought of writing an antihero success story. Several films, including The King of Comedy (1982), To Die For (1995), and The Talented Mr. Ripley (1999), were used as research on how to write antiheroes.