(Open Road Films)In
Nightcrawler,
Jake Gyllenhaal plays an intense loner who becomes a crime scene paparazzo. As the saying goes, "If it bleeds, it leads." And that idea has never been more ominous. The character, Lou Bloom, gets a little too good at his job and becomes embroiled in events he never expected. For Gyllenhaal, capturing his character's freak intensity became much more than simply learning his lines.
EW describes the actor's outlandish preparation in a new
article. Gyllenhaal told the magazine, "I made a lot of choices physically." Um, yeah. That's the understatement of the month. Let's examine what he did:
He lost 30 pounds by living on a diet of kale and chewing gum.
...which worried his Mom (and probably his sister).
(Getty Images)He lost more weight by running 15 miles nightly from his house in the Hollywood Hills to the Nightcrawler set.
And he cut off his friends for the month-long shoot (a methodical way of simulating Bloom's lonely nocturnal existence).
But somehow he didn't go insane.
And he's getting some of the best reviews of his impressive career. 
But you'll have to be the judge. Nightcrawler opens in theaters on October 31.
