Trivia / Nightcrawler

• Completely Different Title:
  • Latin America: Deadly Scoop
  • Azerbaijan: He Built the Night
  • Brazil: The Vulture
  • Canada: The Prowler
  • Croatia: Night Chronicles
  • Czech Republic: He Was Snooping
  • France: Night Call
  • Greece: Night Correspondent
  • Latvia: Night Reporter
  • Lithuania: Night Wanderings
  • Poland: Freelancer
  • Romania: Night Predator
• Creator Couple: Dan Gilroy, the director/writer of the film, is married to Rene Russo, who plays Nina.
• Dyeing for Your Art:
  • Jake Gyllenhaal lost 20-30 pounds to pull off the gaunt look of Lou Bloom, opting to give him the look of a "hungry coyote".
  • Bill Paxton gained weight for the role, in addition to having unkempt hair and a mustache that needed trimming. He reasoned someone in that line of work would be spending the daytime hours sleeping and getting his equipment in order for the next night, and wouldn't have time for exercise or eating a healthy diet. It worked, in his first scene it was only his highly distinctive voice that allowed moviegoers to recognize him.
• Fake American: Riz Ahmed is British playing a Los Angeles native.
• Hey, It's That Place!: When Rick meets with Lou for his job interview, they sit in a diner. The diner they are meeting in was also used in Drive (2011) where the protagonist's love interest works at the diner.
• Inspiration for the Work: Dan Gilroy conceived the idea in 1988, after reading the photo-book Naked City, a collection of photographs taken by American photographer Weegee of 1940s New York City residents at night. Often lewd and sensationalized in content, Weegee would sell these photos to tabloid newspapers. Intrigued by what he described as "an amazing intersection of art and crime and commerce", Gilroy wrote a film treatment with a "Chinatown feel". However, when The Public Eye was released, a film loosely based on Weegee's life, Gilroy shelved the idea. Two years later, he moved to Los Angeles, and noted the predominance of violent crime stories on local news stations. "I suddenly became aware of and intrigued by the idea that it must be a powerful force for a TV station, when they realize their ratings go through the roof when they show something with the potential for violence, like a police chase", says Gilroy. Sometime later, he discovered the stringer profession, and considered it to be the modern day equivalent of Weegee. Unaware of any film that focused on the livelihood of stringers, he began writing a screenplay.
• Missing Trailer Scene: A trailer for the film ends with us seeing Bloom utter the phrase "If you want to win the lottery, you need to make the money to buy a ticket" multiple times. Some of these are said directly into the camera, implying a case of No Fourth Wall, while another is stated while Lou is in an agitated state. In the film itself, he says it once at the beginning in a relatively calm manner, and the fourth wall remains intact throughout.
• No Stunt Double: Jake Gyllenhaal did most of his own driving scenes, including the climactic car chase at the end.
• On-Set Injury: Jake Gyllenhaal severely cut his hand after he improvised smashing a mirror, resulting in him needing to go to hospital and get 42 stitches; he also needed to wear a cast while wrapping up filming (which is why in the first few scenes Lou often has his hands behind his back to hide the cast).
• Throw It In!: The scene where Louis gets so enraged that he screams at his mirror, subsequently shattering it, was improvised by Jake Gyllenhaal. This cut his hand pretty badly and forced him to go to the hospital for stitches. Lou's hands are tucked behind his back in the opening scenes to hide Jake's cast, as they were filmed last. Apparently this scene was also improv, the crew had no idea that Jake had planned on smashing the mirror with his bare hands.
• What Could Have Been: Dan Gilroy considered a Backstory that would help explain how Lou Bloom became the amoral and damaged "survivor" he was in the film. However, he ultimately cut the entire idea from his script because he didn't want to either spend a lot of time on Lou's origin or make him very sympathetic.

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