Jake Gyllenhaal had to hold his hands behind his back for the first several minutes of ‘Nightcrawler’ for a painful reason

Well, it’s Thursday, and that means another edition of Hot Ones, the YouTube show wherein stars consent to being interviewed while being fed wings with increasingly hotter sauces. And we are so glad this show exists – in today’s world, with crazy politicians pulling stunts left and right while some of their constituents are being denied basic human rights, First We Feast’s Sean Evans offers some much-needed levity in the form of stars’ watery eyes, and the customary guzzling of the water.

Today (what a treat!!), we get to see beautiful man and star of the soon-to-be released Guy Ritchie film, The Covenant — Jake Gyllenhaal — sweat so hard he gets a leg cramp. Before we witness him going behind enemy lines to rescue the interpreter who saved his life, lets see how far he can get through these 20 bottles.

Revelations 12:15

Multiple gems were revealed through the 30-minute interview. The first one, right out of the gate, was that Guy Ritchie actually told Gyllenhaal not to memorize any of his lines. He was told, “You’ll come to the set, you’ll work on it on the day, then you’ll go shoot your thing.” That seems like about par for the course, when you consider Ritchie’s fly-by-the-seat-of-your-pants style on films like Aladdin — at least, according to his production designer Gemma Jackson, who was given a lot of freedom to be creative on that project.

The next one revolves around Gyllenhaal’s seeming adoration of Evans’ “upper body,” which he described as “sort of amazing,” and “unlike anything I’ve ever seen.” We think so too. These are a couple of great-looking guys, and Evans looked like he appreciated the compliment.

Then Gyllenhaal reveals a trick he’s seen actors use in stage productions — OK, this is kind of sneaky, and we’ve never heard of it — whereby they steal a scene by “putting something on a table, and they leave, and it’s, like, precarious, and so the audience looks at the thing, not the other actor. This is a technique.” …Interesting. “Other actors” employ this sleight-of-hand, mind you, not Jake.

The next revelation came about when Evans asked Gyllenhaal which of the characters he’s played underwent the biggest transformation or evolution between what was in the script, and what ultimately ended up materializing onscreen. Gyllenhaal talked about the character he played in Prisoners — Detective Loki — who was “much more straight-laced, more so trying to find an answer” in the script. “I wanted the character to be a mystery, but determined, so the audience had two things going on at the same time. To me, it’s not like a bad script that became a good movie — sometimes you just add on to things, and they become something totally differently than what was written on the page, but still with the same intention.”

Now, the next one barely counts, simply because of the way it was presented. Evans asks, “Is it true that the chase scene at the End of Watch, when your patrol car smashes into the back of a silver minivan — that that wasn’t scripted? That the production had pulled out the anti-lock brake system because it made the mounted camera move?” Gyllenhaal’s answer: “It wasn’t a mistake. You never know how a stunt’s gonna go; every stunt’s a little bit of a mistake.” He went on to say that it was the opening sequence, and the entire cast and crew were just so excited to get it all in one take.

Nightcrawler

And then we get to the juice. Evans asks, “Fact or fiction? That scene in Nightcrawler where you’re yelling at yourself in the mirror, you got so caught up in the improvisation that you ended up cutting your hand open — four-hour operation, and 46 stitches?” To this, Gyllenhaal laughs heartily. Apparently, the injury did not require surgery, but the 46 stitches part was true. However: “Fun fact,” Gyllenhaal adds, “the opening of that movie — my character — my hands are behind my back, during the first two or three scenes, we shot the first few scenes last, and because I had a huge cast on my arm, I’m hiding it by hiding my hands behind my back.”

To become a “stringer” — the term for the ambulance-chasing reporters who get those on-the-scene news camera shots of victims of violent crime — Gyllenhaal had to “become a coyote,” meaning he had to “look hungry,” so he lost nearly 30 pounds for the role, and even took to the road with a real-life nightcrawler in L.A. The research and sacrifice paid off, and Gyllenhaal received accolades and acclaim for his depiction of Lou Bloom. And now we know the story behind that iconic scene. Thanks, Hot Ones!