| Nightcrawler | |
|---|---|
 Theatrical release poster | |
| Directed by | Dan Gilroy |
| Written by | Dan Gilroy |
| Produced by | |
| Starring |
|
| Cinematography | Robert Elswit |
| Edited by | John Gilroy |
| Music by | James Newton Howard |
Production company | |
| Distributed by | Open Road Films |
Release dates |
|
Running time | 117 minutes[1] |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $8.5 million |
| Box office | $50.3 million |
Nightcrawler is a 2014 Americanneo-noircrime thriller film written and directed byDan Gilroy in hisdirectorial debut. It starsJake Gyllenhaal as an unhingedstringer who seeks out violent and morbid events late at night inLos Angeles so he can film them and sell the exclusive footage to a local television news station. The supporting cast includesRene Russo,Riz Ahmed, andBill Paxton.
Gilroy originally wanted to make a film about the life of American photographerWeegee, but switched focus after discovering the unique narrative possibilities surrounding the stringer profession. He wrote the protagonist as anantihero, 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 utilizedviral marketing to promoteNightcrawler, including a fictional video résumé onCraigslist and fake social media profiles for the protagonist. The film premiered at the2014 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[2] and gaining acult following in the process.[3] It was met with widespread praise, especially Gilroy's screenplay and the performances of Gyllenhaal and Russo. Several critics listedNightcrawler as one of the best films of 2014 and it receivedvarious accolades, including aBest Original Screenplay nomination at the87th Academy Awards. Gyllenhaal was nominated for theBAFTA Award,Screen Actors Guild Award,Golden Globe Award andCritics' Choice Movie Award, surprisingly missing in theBest Actor Oscar category.[4][5][6][7][8][9][10]
Petty thief Louis "Lou" Bloom is caught stealing from aLos Angeles railyard by a security guard. He attacks the guard, steals his watch and leaves with stolen manhole covers, fencing, and other materials. While trying to sell the materials at a scrap yard, Lou asks for a job, but theforeman, who has already been questioned by police looking for the manhole covers, refuses to hire a thief. While driving home in his beat-upToyota Tercel, Lou sees a car crash and pulls over.Stringers—freelancephotojournalists—arrive and record two police officers pulling a woman from the burning wreckage. One of the stringers, Joe Loder, explains to Lou that they sell their footage to localnews stations.
Inspired, Lou steals an expensive bicycle andpawns it for acamcorder and apolice radioscanner. After two unsuccessful attempts at recording incidents, Lou records the aftermath of a fatalcarjacking and sells the footage to KWLA 6. The morning news director, Nina Romina, tells him the station is especially interested in footage of "graphic" accidents and violent crime in affluent, predominantly white areas. Lou hires an assistant, Rick, a young homeless man desperate for money. To give his footage more impact, Lou tampers with crime scenes, in one case moving a body to get a better camera angle. As Lou's work gains traction, he buys better equipment and a faster car (a redDodge Challenger).
Lou pressures Nina into a date, telling her he knows she is desperate for higher ratings. On their date, hethreatens to terminate his business with Nina unless she has sex with him, and it is implied that she acquiesces. Lou turns down an offer to work for Joe, but when Joe beats him to an important plane crash story, Nina demands that Lou get better footage and keep his end of their bargain. In retaliation, Lou sabotages Joe'sFord Econoline van; when it crashes, Joe is severely injured and Lou records the aftermath.
Later, Lou and Rick arrive before the police at the site of a triple-homicidehome invasion inGranada Hills. Lou records footage of the gunmen leaving in theirCadillac Escalade and of the victims in the house, and later presents footage to the station with the perpetrators edited out. The news staff frets over the ethics of the footage but Nina is eager to break the story. In exchange, Lou demands public credit and more money. Police detective Frontieri shows up at Lou's apartment to question him about his connection to the home invasion. He gives her edited footage of the incident, cutting out the parts with the gunmen.
That night, Lou and Rick track down the driver to his house, staking out the house until he leaves to pick up his partner. Lou wants to follow them to a more crowded public area, then call the police and record the ensuing confrontation. Alarmed, Rick demands half of the reward money for locating the gunmen, threatening to tell the police about Lou's withholding of evidence. After some back-and-forth, Lou agrees.
When the gunmen stop at a restaurant, Lou phones the police, warning them that the suspects are armed. They arrive and exchange gunfire. A police officer is shot and one of the killers is gunned down while the other manages to escape in the Escalade. The police give chase. Lou and Rick follow close behind in the Challenger, filming the chase as it happens, culminating in a long multiple-car collision. After the gunman's Escalade crashes, Lou approaches the vehicle, claiming that the gunman is dead and urging Rick to film him. The gunman is revealed to be alive as he shoots Rick, flees, and is killed by arriving police officers. As Rick lies dying, Lou films him and tells him that he cannot work with someone who successfully extorted him for withholding evidence, because he knows it will happen again.
Nina is awed by the chase footage and expresses her devotion to Lou. The news team discovers that the home invasion was actually the criminals breaking in to steal cocaine that the homeowners were stashing; Nina refuses to report this information to maximize the story's impact. Police try to confiscate Lou's footage as evidence but Nina defends her right to withhold it and airs it immediately. Lou voluntarily speaks with Detective Frontieri. While being interrogated by Frontieri, Lou fabricates a story about the men in the Escalade following him; Frontieri knows he is lying, but cannot prove it. Later, Lou hires a team of interns to expand his business, saying that he will not ask them to do anything he is unwilling to do himself.
According to Dean Biron ofOverland, "Nightcrawler is a shattering critique of both modern-day media practice and consumer culture."[12] 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.[13] Ed Rampell ofThe 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."[14] As much as the film indicts modern journalism,Nightcrawler's directorDan Gilroy noted that his goal was for audiences to realize that by watching sensationalized news stories, they themselves are encouraging unethical journalism.[15] Biron argues that Lou's character in the film is created because of consumer demand, and that he is a "reflection of thesymbiotic relationship between commercial imperatives and audience desire".[12] Critics Alyssa Rosenberg and Sam Adams argue thatNightcrawler is not so much a critique of journalism, but instead a depiction of Lou's entitlement.[16][17]
The exactgenre ofNightcrawler has been the subject of debate.[18] While most critics agree that the film predominantly featuresthriller elements, other descriptions have been used, includingdark comedy,[18][19]drama,[18][20]horror,[20][21] andneo-noir.[22][23] When asked about the film's genre, Gilroy stated: "I seeNightcrawler 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."[18] Gyllenhaal particularly noted the comedic elements, commenting: "Gilroy and I were laughing pretty much the whole movie."[24]
Gilroy conceived the idea forNightcrawler in 1988, after reading thephoto-bookNaked City, a collection of photographs taken by American photographerWeegee of 1940sNew York City residents at night. Often lewd and sensationalized in content, Weegee would sell these photos totabloid newspapers. Intrigued by what he described as "an amazing intersection of art and crime and commerce", Gilroy wrote afilm treatment with a "Chinatown feel".[26] He shelved the idea after the release ofThe Public Eye (1992), which was loosely based on Weegee's life.[27] Two years later, he moved toLos 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.[28] Sometime later, he discovered the stringer profession, and considered it to be the modern day equivalent of Weegee.[29] Unaware of any film that focused on the livelihood of stringers, he began writing ascreenplay.[30]
Gilroy spent several years trying to write a plot that would fit the setting, and experimented withconspiracies andmurder mysteries as central story elements.[22] Eventually, he decided to instead start by designing the characters, and attempted to create a standard literaryhero character. Unable to create an interesting hero, he then envisioned anantihero as the lead character. Gilroy felt antiheroes were a rarity in films, because they are difficult to write, and usually devolve intopsychopaths; in an attempt to break from the stereotype, he thought of writing an antihero success story.[31] Several films, includingThe King of Comedy (1982),To Die For (1995), andThe Talented Mr. Ripley (1999), were used as research on how to write antiheroes.[30]
To create Lou Bloom's character, Gilroy explored the ideas of unemployment andcapitalism. He wanted to portray Lou as someone who perpetually focuses on the precepts of capitalism, and how these thoughts not only give him sanity, but also push him over the edge.[32][33] Gilroy did not give Lou acharacter arc, as he believed that people develop their ideals at a certain point in their life, and that they stay that way regardless of what happens. This is depicted in the opening scene of the film, when Lou attacks a security guard, which informs the audience that Lou is a criminal, and not someone who lost his morality as a result of the job.[34] Lou's backstory was purposefully left out of the script, as Gilroy felt that without one, the audience would create their own backstories for Lou, and become more engaged with the character.[30] Gilroy remarked that Lou eventually became a vehicle for the ideas and themes that he wanted to express in the film.[35]
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Once the script was finalized, Gilroy knew that he wanted to direct the film. He sent the script to his brotherTony Gilroy, and asked him for advice on directing. His brother described the script as "absolutely compelling", and noted every person who read the script afterwards wanted to work on the project, a rarity in thefilm industry. The production crew includedfilm editorJohn Gilroy,cinematographerRobert Elswit, andcomposerJames Newton Howard.[27] Gilroy previously met Elswit while working as a screenwriter forThe Bourne Legacy (2012); the two formed a partnership, and created ashot-list forNightcrawler months before filming.[36] The production team needed licensed background footage for the newsroom scenes, and the Raishbrook brothers, three real stringers, offered their footage.[37] The Raishbrook brothers were eventually brought on as technical advisers.[38]
Gyllenhaal was Gilroy's first choice for the role of Lou. During pre-production, Gyllenhaal was going to star in another film, but that project fell through, allowing time to meet with Gilroy.[27] The two discussed the script inAtlanta, where Gyllenhaal was filmingPrisoners (2013).[39] When Gilroy told Gyllenhaal that he wroteNightcrawler as a success story, Gyllenhaal became interested in the film. "This character was beautifully written. The dialogue is pretty extraordinary. Just even the style of the script was an amazing read", said Gyllenhaal.[40] The two rehearsed the script months before filming began, and Gyllenhaal became heavily involved in production, from choosing members of the crew to watching audition tapes.[27][41] While rehearsing the character, Gilroy mentioned how he saw Lou as acoyote, anocturnal predator who is driven by its never ending hunger.[39] Gyllenhaal took this comment literally, and lost nearly thirty pounds by eating nothing butkale salads andchewing gum, and running fifteen miles every day.[42] Although some of the crew disagreed with this decision, Gilroy was supportive of the weight loss; Gyllenhaal was respectful and did not alter the script, so Gilroy wanted to reciprocate this generosity.[29]
Riz Ahmed was one of seventy-five actors to audition for the role of Rick.[27] Ahmed was attending a friend's wedding in Los Angeles, when histalent agent suggested he meet Gilroy to discuss the film's script. Gilroy told Ahmed that he had seen his previous work; he was not fit for the role, but still allowed him to audition.[43] Within the first minute of his audition tape, Gilroy felt confident in the actor's abilities.[27] To prepare for the role, Ahmed met with homeless people inSkid Row, and researchedhomeless shelters to "understand the system". He found that most of the people dealt withabandonment issues, and attempted to replicate this in Rick's abusive relationship with Lou.[43] Additionally, Gilroy, Gyllenhaal, and Ahmed rode with the Raishbrook brothers at night to accurately portray their lifestyle.[44][45]
Gilroy specifically wrote the role of Nina for his wife Rene Russo; this was because he felt that Nina could easily be reduced to a "hard-nosed corporate bitch", but Russo would bring a sense of vulnerability to the character.[27] Although Russo was unaware of Gilroy's intention while writing the script, she was interested in performing the role, as she had never portrayed a desperate woman in a film.[46] Russo initially struggled with the character, because she never saw herself as the victim. In order to accurately portray the character, Russo had to recall memories of when she crossed moral boundaries in her life as a result of desperation and fear. In contrast to the preparations Gyllenhaal and Ahmed took for their roles, Russo did not consult news directors or journalists, as she believed that Nina could be in any business, and did not want to limit her character to one profession.[47]
Nightcrawler was filmed on a budget of $8.5 million, most of which was financed byBold Films.[48][49] Part of the budget came from a $2.3 millionCalifornia Film Tax Credit, which rewards directors for producing films in California.[49][50] Tony Gilroy noted the budget was extremely low, and should have "easily cost twice that amount".[27] To make the most out of the budget, Elswit built "efficiencies" into each day of the film schedule, a role that all three Gilroy brothers described as instrumental to the completion of the film.[27] Before the filming forNightcrawler began, the production crew spent two dayslocation scouting across Los Angeles.[27] Some crew members did not believe there was going to be enough time to film every scene, and that at least 15 pages of the script would have to be cut; Gilroy took these comments as a personal challenge.[27]Principal photography began on October 6, 2013, in Los Angeles and lasted 27 days.[31][49] Filming was a challenging and busy process, as 80 locations were used, and there were many times in which the crew had to move to multiple locations each night.[39] Gilroy remarked that there was never a day that filming was not completed minutes before sunrise.[27]
One of the goals while filmingNightcrawler was to portray Los Angeles as having "an untamed spirit, a wildness, a timelessness,about it", and to not let the visuals dictate the dark tone of the script. Gilroy believes that, in contrast to the desaturated, man-made feel that the city is often depicted with, Los Angeles is a "landscape of primal struggle and survival".[36] Gyllenhaal's animalistic approach to the script influenced this belief, and the idea was to filmNightcrawler like a wildlifedocumentary.[35] To achieve this goal, Elswit usedwide-angle lens,depth of field, and avoidedsoft focus to bring a sense of landscape.[27][36]
James Newton Howard composed the score forNightcrawler. Unlike the large and cinematic scores that had previously defined his career, Howard composed moodyelectronica pieces forNightcrawler, heavily influenced by 1980ssynth.[51] Howard initially struggled writing a score that fit both the overall atmosphere of the film and Gilroy's expectations.[52] Instead of using whatConsequence of Sound described as "the expected 10 strings and a nightmarish score", Gilroy wanted more uplifting and subversive music.[53] The goal was for the audience to believe that the music is actually playing inside Lou's mind. For example, in the scene when Lou moves a dead body to get a better angle, the music sounds triumphant instead of dark, which is meant to convey how excited Lou is about the shot. Howard describes this as "an anthem of potential for his tremendous success".[52] For shots of Los Angeles, Howard used a subtle electronic sound, while shots with Lou used a more orchestral, clarinet-driven sound. He believed that Lou could go through difficult situations easily and with a certain intelligence, and that orchestral music would best suit Lou.[52]
According to Open Road Films CEOTom Ortenberg, the company attempted to marketNightcrawler to both mainstream audiences andart house critics. "We had material that portrayed the picture as the commercial property that it is, but not while abandoning its indie roots", says Ortenberg.[54] The first trailer was released on July 23,[55] while ared band trailer was released on October 24.[56] In addition to typical trailers,Nightcrawler also used some unusualviral marketing strategies. On July 19, a fictional video résumé for Lou was posted onCraigslist. In the video, Lou discusses his benefits for potential employers.[57] A few months later,LinkedIn andTwitter profiles were created for Lou. These profiles purport the video production business that Lou runs in the film to be real, and endorse Lou's management and strategic planning skills.[17]
An unfinished version ofNightcrawler was screened on May 16, at the2014 Cannes Film Festival; the film sparked a bidding war between several distribution companies, includingA24,Focus Features,Fox Searchlight Pictures,Open Road Films, andThe Weinstein Company.[58] Open Road Films acquired the distribution rights in the United States for around $4.5 million.[59]Nightcrawler had its world premiere on September 5, at the2014 Toronto International Film Festival.[60] It also screened at several other film festivals, including theAtlantic Film Festival,[61]Fantastic Fest,[62] and theRome Film Festival.[63] The film was originally scheduled for a theatrical release on October 17, but Open Road Films moved the release to October 31, to avoid competition with several bigger-budget films likeFury,Birdman,Dracula Untold, andThe Book of Life.[64]
Nightcrawler was released onDVD andBlu-ray formats on February 10, 2015,[65] courtesy ofUniversal Pictures Home Entertainment.[66] Special features on the Blu-ray release include anaudio commentary in which the three Gilroy brothers discuss the film's production, and a five-minutemaking-of video with behind-the-scenes shots and interviews.[66] In its first week of DVD and Blu-ray release,Nightcrawler sold 67,132 units, and grossed $1.1 million. In its second week, the film dropped sixty-seven percent in sales, and made $371,442, for an overall total of $1.5 million.[67]
In North America,Nightcrawler earned $500,000 from early screenings, and after opening to 2,766 theaters, grossed $3.2 million on its first day of release.[54][68] It finished its opening weekend with $10.9 million;[69] journalists attributed the low sales toHalloween festivities.[68][69] In its second weekend,Nightcrawler dropped forty-nine percent in sales, and grossed $5.4 million.[70] After grossing $28.8 million by December,Nightcrawler reentered North American theaters due to several nominations during the 2014film awards season.[71] The film eventually finished with $32.4 million in North America.[48]
In theUnited Kingdom,Nightcrawler opened to £1 million ($1.33 million), and grossed an additional £545,221 ($725,563) in its second weekend.[72][73] The film would eventually earn $18 million in international territories, and when combined with its North American sales, earned $50.3 million.[48] Despite its low production budget, Ortenberg believes thatNightcrawler was able to succeed at the box office byword-of-mouth marketing. "College kids, cinephiles, mainstream moviegoers across the country as well as critics and bloggers started taking possession ofNightcrawler as their own and championed it. It became a cause for people to promote it and get it seen", says Ortenberg.[54]
The websiteRotten Tomatoesaggregated an approval rating of 95% for the film based on 279 reviews and an average rating of 8.3/10. The site's critical consensus reads: "Restless, visually sleek, and powered by a lithe star performance from Jake Gyllenhaal,Nightcrawler offers dark, thought-provoking thrills."[74] OnMetacritic, the film has a score of 76 out of 100, based on reviews from 45 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".[75] Audiences polled byCinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B−" on an A+ to F scale.[76]
Reviewers call Gyllenhaal's character a "charming sociopath" and his performance "a bravura, career-changing tour-de-force".[77][78] Film criticChristy Lemire called Gyllenhaal's performance "supremely creepy" and praised the film's themes and messages.[79] Christopher Orr ofThe Atlantic compared Gyllenhaal to a youngRobert De Niro and his performances in the filmsTaxi Driver (1976) andThe King of Comedy, feeling Gyllenhaal's character harbored traits shared by De Niro's characters in the two films. Orr called Gyllenhaal "tremendous" in the role and stated that the actor was learning to "channel an eerie, inner charisma, offering it up in glimpses and glimmers rather than all at once". He also declared the role as Gyllenhaal's "best performance to date".[80] Ben Sachs of theChicago Reader highlighted Gilroy's direction, and how he was able to command an "uncommon assurance" from the cast and crew, despite being a first time director.[81] Conversely,Richard Roeper felt that Gyllenhaal's performance was merely good, and that it did not enter "new dramatic territory". He also found that Russo's character eventually becomes a caricature.[82]
Keith Uhlich ofThe A.V. Club namedNightcrawler the eighth-best film of 2014.[83] Its screenplay was ranked the ninth best of the 2010s inWhatCulture: "This feverous script succeeds because it contains one of modern cinema's greatest character [sic], Lou Bloom- macabre, ruthless, brazenly tranquil yet simmering with a latent violence [...] Gilroy opts for one-word sentences which zip across the page like Bloom's Dodge Challenger tearing down the interstate for the next car crash or burn victim." The writer also argued that the trajectory of the main character "plays to our guilt over our voyeurism- we consume the footage which men like Bloom provide, we allow the likes of him to rise in society".[84]
In 2024,Paste Magazine ranked the character 5th among "the best portrayals of cinematic sociopaths".[85]
Nightcrawler was listed on many critics' top ten lists.[86]
Nightcrawler was nominated forseveral awards, most of which went to Gyllenhaal's performance and Gilroy's screenplay. At the87th Academy Awards, Gilroy was nominated for anAcademy Award for Best Original Screenplay.[87] The film received an additional four nominations at the68th British Academy Film Awards, three nominations at the20th Critics' Choice Awards, one nomination at the72nd Golden Globe Awards, and one nomination at the21st Screen Actors Guild Awards, but did not win any of them.[88][89][90][91] It did, however, win Best Film at the19th San Diego Film Critics Society Awards.
Gyllenhaal was nominated for theBAFTA Award,Screen Actors Guild Award,Golden Globe Award andCritics' Choice Movie Award, surprisingly missing in theBest Actor Oscar category.[92][93][94][95][96][97][98]
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