1. Dan Gilroy First Came Up With The Idea In 1988

Dan Gilroy first came up with the seed of the idea that would eventually become Nightcrawler in 1988. He got a hold of the book Naked City, a collection of photographer Weegee’s pictures of New York in the ‘40s. Weegee sold gruesome, yet artful photos of crime scenes to newspapers, and Gilroy planned a Chinatown-esque film noir about his work. Unfortunately for Gilroy, his plans were halted when Joe Pesci made a movie about Weegee’s life called The Public Eye. Gilroy changed the setting to the modern-day when he found out about stringers in present-day Los Angeles.

2. The Producers Used Experimental Viral Marketing Techniques On Social Media

When the producers of Nightcrawler were promoting the movie, they used various experimental viral marketing strategies to get the message out there. This included creating a fictional video résumé for the Lou Bloom character and posting it on Craigslist, and also creating several fake social media profiles for the character for fans to follow.

3. Dan Gilroy Wrote The Role Of Nina Specifically For His Wife Rene Russo

Writer-director Dan Gilroy is married to Rene Russo, and he wrote the role of Nina in Nightcrawler specifically for her. Gilroy felt that the role could easily turn into a one-dimensional cliché, and that Russo would be able to bring real humanity and vulnerability to the character. Russo didn’t know that Gilroy was writing Nina specifically for her to play, and became interested in playing the role on her own accord, as she felt that playing a desperate person would be an exciting acting challenge.

4. Lou Was Initially Conceived As A More Traditional Hero

Initially, Dan Gilroy was going to anchor the story of Nightcrawler with a more traditional heroic character, with the usual traits of a likable lead. However, he couldn’t create a hero who was interesting enough for this world. That’s when he decided to flip the script and came up with an anti-hero who would essentially be a sociopath and defy the “rules” of movie protagonists.

5. The Mirror Smashing Was Improvised By Jake Gyllenhaal

During the scene in which Lou yells at himself in the mirror, Jake Gyllenhaal improvised smashing the mirror. He actually cut his hand, and director Dan Gilroy had to drive him to the hospital after getting the shot. After a 19-hour working day, Gyllenhaal needed to get 46 stitches across a four-hour surgery. He returned to the set just six hours after being discharged from the hospital. This explains why Lou keeps his hand behind his back in the scene with the scrapyard owner.

6. Lou’s Plant Was Originally A Dog

Lou continually waters a plant in his apartment throughout Nightcrawler. Showing him looking after something was an intentional effort to make Lou slightly less reprehensible. In the original script, the thing he looked after in his apartment was a dog.

7. Dan Gilroy Initially Planned To Give Lou A Backstory

When he was putting together the screenplay for Nightcrawler, Dan Gilroy planned to give Lou Bloom a fleshed-out backstory that would explain how he came to be so corrupted. He’d be presented as more of a victim who’d suffered traumas. However, Gilroy decided that it would be more interesting and unsettling for Lou not to have any backstory. His past is completely unknown; he just drifts onto the screen like a force of nature.

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