Jake Gyllenhaal may have won a whole new legion of fans after starring in Spider-Man: Far From Home as Mysterio, which might even lead to further appearances as part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe in the future, but based on his recent career trajectory, we shouldn’t be expecting the Academy Award-nominated actor to start showing up in big budget blockbusters with any sort of regularity.
In fact, Gyllenhaal appeared to have sworn off major studio movies for good after headlining Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time a decade ago, with his his ill-fated attempt to launch his own franchise resulting in poor reviews and disappointing box office numbers – even if it did reign as the highest-grossing video game adaptation ever made for six years.
Instead, Donnie Darko‘s breakout star sought to reinvent himself and establish a reputation as one of the industry’s finest and most dedicated talents, which he more than accomplished through a string of critically acclaimed roles in the likes of Source Code, End of Watch and Prisoners, among others.
However, the best movie of his mini-revival is arguably Tony Gilroy’s 2014 neo-noir Nightcrawler, with his fiercely committed performance earning him Golden Globe, BAFTA and Screen Actors Guild nominations for Best Actor, and many feeling he was unfairly overlooked when it came to the Oscars that year.
The gripping look at the darker side of Los Angeles sees the actor play Louis “Lou” Bloom, “a stringer who records violent events late at night in Los Angeles and sells the footage to a local television news station.” It did decent enough business after raking in over $50 million globally on a budget of only $8.5 million, and the film has just landed on Netflix today to make itself available to a whole new audience. For fans of both Jake Gyllenhaal and the down-and-dirty thriller, Nightcrawler is well worth adding to your watch-list and even if you’ve already seen it, it’s still hugely entertaining upon repeat viewings.
