14 DAY TRIAL // Jake Gyllenhaal has consistently delivered solid acting performances, whether in dramas, which seem to be his favorite go-to genre, or comedies. With his latest outing, he’s bound to impress even more because this is one dramatic role for which he underwent an equally dramatic transformation.
The film is called “Nightcrawler” and it’s in theaters now. Jake stopped by The Ellen DeGeneres Show to promote it, and among other things, he also talked about his weight loss – and what motivated him to starve himself for a role.
Gyllenhaal wanted to look the part, not just play it
In “Nightcrawler,” Gyllenhaal plays a slightly deranged man who takes up a job as a crime reporter in Los Angeles, in the sleaziest and most dangerous part of the town. He doesn’t just immerse himself in the job, he actually starts to bend the law just so he can have a story, from what we’ve seen in the trailers so far.
In short, his character is not the kind you’d want to have over for dinner with your mom and dad, though he’d probably appreciate the invite.
Gyllenhaal tells Ellen that he envisioned him as this kind of “hungry scavenging animal,” the kind that goes digging through stuff where no other would, so he wanted to do more than just act the part: he wanted to look the part as well.
He estimates he lost between 25 pounds (11.3 kg) and 30 pounds (13.6 kg), which gave him this sickly, haunted look – and totally creepy as well. He hints that he did in the “traditional” and not recommended way of starving himself, which meant that he was hungry all the time.
But it was for the higher purpose of art.
“He’s in Southern California and there’s a lot of coyotes all over the place and I just thought of him like that and I talked to the director… there’s a big part of the movie that is Los Angeles, ya know? It’s a huge character in the film,” the actor adds.
You’ll see this segment from the interview in the first video below; the second embed is of Jake getting the scare of a lifetime from Ellen, when a guy in costume jumps out of the coffee table and screams at him. It looks like he’s wearing an Annabelle mask.
The Academy loves transformations like it does few other things
Besides helping Jake capture the very essence of his character and then bring him to life on camera, his physical transformation also helped him to achieve another thing: to get Oscar buzz going.
The Academy loves nothing more than a good transformation, if it’s backed up by a stellar, award-worthy performance, and we have a feeling that Gyllenhaal delivers on that latter account in “Nightcrawler.” Its high certified fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes (currently of 88%) could also be further indication in this sense.
Until mid-December, when the qualifying period for the Oscars 2015 ends, expect to hear more talks about how might or might not score a nomination. As of now, Jake seems to be a favorite for Best Actor category.
