Jake Gyllenhaal sees light in the darkness of Nightcrawler

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. 

The illuminating power of darkness

Gyllenhaal is nothing if not versatile, but the hard-working actor says Bloom is one of his all-time favourite characters. He sees Bloom as the hungry "personification of a coyote," and describes the film as a subversive success story.

"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."

Hear the full interview by clicking on the listen button above, or watch the trailer for Nightcrawler in the window embedded below. The film recently premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival.