This new Red-Band trailer for NIGHTCRAWLER is "f#$%ing amazeballs!"

Jack Gyllenhaal’s pretty much done it all. Had a 6-foot rabbit as his friend, survived the next ice age, tracked down a famous serial killer, turned back time in Persia and even gave the Joker some good lovin’. One thing he has never done though is come home with an Oscar. He came close though, with the aforementioned Joker-lovin’ in Brokeback Mountain, but that sole nomination (as well as a Golden Globe nom for his turn in Love and other Drugs) has really been his only shot at going from solid, always reliable actor to total showstopping scene-stealer.

That looks to change with Nightcrawler, a new drama from Dan Gilroy (The Bourne Legacy, Real Steel), the screenwriting brother of famous director Tony Gilroy who is making his own directing debut here. The film takes a look at the life of nighttime crime journalism, a stressful beat that most in the journalism industry consider to require a certain type of person: One that is preferably bonkers. And based on this wicked new Red-Band trailer for the movie, that’s exactly what we’re getting with Jake Gyllenhaal this time around.

“Nightcrawler” is a pulse-pounding thriller set in the nocturnal underbelly of contemporary Los Angeles. Jake Gyllenhaal stars as Lou Bloom, a driven young man desperate for work who discovers the high-speed world of L.A. crime journalism. Finding a group of freelance camera crews who film crashes, fires, murder and other mayhem, Lou muscles into the cut-throat, dangerous realm of nightcrawling — where each police siren wail equals a possible windfall and victims are converted into dollars and cents. Aided by Rene Russo as Nina, a veteran of the blood-sport that is local TV news, Lou thrives. In the breakneck, ceaseless search for footage, he becomes the star of his own story.

Nightcrawler and also stars Rene Russo, Bill Paxton and Riz Ahmad. It opens internationally on October 31, 2014. Unfortunately, we’re going to have to wait until March 6, 2015 before Jake Gyllenhaal starts crawling all over our South African nights.

Last Updated: October 27, 2014