I first spot Jake Gyllenhaal in the lobby of the InterContinental Hotel in Toronto wearing a button-down shirt and sunglasses. I am supposed to interview him in 20 minutes about his role in “Nightcrawler,” an enthralling new genre flick about a psychotic freelance cameramen who films crime scenes for local news programs. These freelancers, or nightcrawlers—unscrupulous vampires of the night—listen to police scanners for brutal car crashes and headline-worthy crimes, then speed to the scene and film what they can. The resulting footage gets sold to local outlets for cash. The general rule of thumb: the bloodier the scene, the bigger the payout.

Unfortunately, due to the hectic nature of film festivals, my interview with Gyllenhaal about this role gets pushed back more than an hour, and I am eventually asked if I’d like to conduct the conversation in the car on the way to his next press opportunity. “Absolutely,” I reply.

(more…)

Jake Gyllenhaal joins Jian to discuss his intense and frightening role in Nightcrawler, a noir thriller about an ambulance-chasing crime photographer. The Oscar-nominated actor plays Lou Bloom, a wild-eyed drifter and petty thief who becomes a freelance cameraman specializing in gruesome footage.

Gyllenhaal reflects on privacy and voyeurism; shares how he got into the head of his sociopathic character; and explains why he’s drawn to challenging and often darker roles.

“I’m not afraid of going into a world like the world of night crawler. I think that it’s enlightening,” he tells Jian. “It’s one of the darker movies that I’ve made, and so to me that’s great light.”

Watch the full 30-minute interview with Jake after the jump, courtesy of CBC Radio.

(more…)

When Jake Gyllenhaal steals into Toronto under the cover of darkness, he knows he’s always going to find one thing waiting for him: a good night’s rest.

“I really love sleeping here,” says Gyllenhaal, in Toronto for the world premiere of Nightcrawler, about an obsessive freelance crime videographer who dives too deep into the nocturnal underbelly of Los Angeles.

It could be our nation’s new slogan: Welcome to Canada! Have a nap! But it’s not like Canadians are dull, says Gyllenhaal. It’s just that whenever he comes here from his home in NYC, he immediately feels at ease.

“There’s a really warm nature to the people here, and to the city,” he says. “Whenever I’ve worked here, whenever I’ve stayed here, it just feels kind of warm, you know?”

(more…)

Our video archive has been updated with several new interviews from the Toronto Film Festival.

Video Links:
– ‘Nightcrawler’ TIFF Interview (Indiewire)
– ‘Nightcrawler’ TIFF Interview (Kiss 92.5)
– ‘Nightcrawler’ TIFF Interview (CBC.ca)
– ‘Nightcrawler’ TIFF Interview (The Seven Sees)
– ‘Nightcrawler’ TIFF Interview (Cineplex Movies)
– ‘Nightcrawler’ TIFF Interview (HFPA)
– ‘Nightcrawler’ TIFF Interview (Hollywood Reporter)
– ‘Nightcrawler’ TIFF Interview (Variety Studio)
– ‘Nightcrawler’ TIFF Premiere (Q&A Session)

More will be added as they become available, so keep checking back!

The pulsating shimmer of Los Angeles at night can seem either like a dreamscape fantasia or a topography of nightmares. In the new film “Nightcrawler” it is both, a land of opportunity and madness and left in some measure for the viewer to unravel.

The directing debut for Dan Gilroy, who also wrote the screenplay, the film enters the world of nighttime crime-scene videographers as a jumping-off point to explore contemporary media culture, self-created personalities in the Internet age and the boundaries of personal ambition. The film has its world premiere as part of the current Toronto International Film Festival, will have its U.S. premiere at the Fantastic Fest in Austin, Texas, and open in theaters on Oct. 31.

(more…)