One of the most talked about films of the Toronto International Film Festival this year was Nightcrawler, which stars Jake Gyllenhaal as an enterprising but amoral crime scene videographer who sells videos to a local news producer played by Rene Russo, who believes that “If it bleeds, it leads.”
It’s one of the most dramatic roles Russo has ever undertaken as an actress, a dark vision of the future of professionals who work freelance for a living, and it comes courtesy of writer/director Dan Gilroy, who is also Rene Russo’s husband. You’d think her part in the film would be assured, but in this CraveOnline exclusive interview we learn that Rene Russo always doubted that Nightcrawler would even get made, and that she never told Dan Gilroy.
Related: Jake Gyllenhaal on Success at Any Cost (Exclusive Video)
We also learn that Rene Russo didn’t get the financial security her character in Nightcrawler lacks by appearing in the blockbuster Thor movies. She’s laughing, but she insists that she practically paid to appear in the hit Marvel Studios movies, and made – quote – “zero” for her role in the films… although that has to be an exaggeration, right?
Nightcrawler stars Jake Gyllenhaal (End of Watch), Rene Russo (Thor) and Bill Paxton (“Big Love”), and hits theaters on October 31, 2014.
William Bibbiani is the editor of CraveOnline’s Film Channel and the host of The B-Movies Podcast and The Blue Movies Podcast. Follow him on Twitter at @WilliamBibbiani.
