Banish all thoughts of some budget Marvel superhero right now. Jake Gyllenhaal isn’t donning any spandex for Nightcrawler, a new thriller written and directed by Dan Gilroy.
Having lost plenty of weight for the role, he looks creepy, reaching bug-eyed levels of even Steve Buscemi to play the insomniac LA crime reporter who becomes far too wrapped in this shady industry.
After all, he’s a hard worker, he sets high goals and he’s been told that he’s persistent, according to the trailer, with shades of Petr Finch’s manic breakdown on Network also visible in the footage - in one clip Gyllenhaal slowly loses it in a studio, breaking the third wall to let us know exactly how driven he is.
While it also hints at being partly satire, it marks another dark turn for the actor so quickly off the back of ultra trippy Enemy and weighty Prisoners.
We’ll certainly be tuning in.
Nightcrawler lands in cinemas nationwide from 17 October
