Nightcrawler has been a bit of an oddity in this year's awards season. Premiering at the Toronto International Film Festival, Nightcrawler received good, if not stunning, reviews but never really generated enough buzz outside of Gyllenhaal's performance to be considered a serious Oscar contender. The film then released wide in late October and had a decent performance at the box office but didn't make the type of numbers that would demand the attention of Academy members. However, since late December the film has been resurrected and is suddenly a possible contender in a number of categories, including Best Picture. With a sizeable amount of regional newspapers and film critics societies citing not only Gyllenhaal's lead turn, but also the work of Rene Russo, Riz Ahmed, the writing and directing of Dan Gilroy, and the film itself as some of the year's best in cinema, suddenly, Nightcrawler has become a movie Academy members needed to see. Regardless of what the film's final Oscar fate is though, one thing is for sure, all this latent buzz has been extremely helpful for Jake Gyllenhaal's chance at receiving his second Oscar nomination. Gyllenhaal is undeniably the centerpiece of the film and his performance as the egomaniacal, go-getting sociopath Louis Bloom is one of the best performances of his increasingly fascinating career. The role is one of those magnetic turns that is hard to take your eyes off of and Louis Bloom, a protagonist who succinctly sums up the all encompassing narcissism it takes to be successful in many industries in the 21st century, is one of the more memorable characters of cinema in 2014. Many Oscar pundits have Gyllenhaal as the sixth man out in this year's Best Actor race, but breaking down the awards season thus far, it would really be more surprising if he didn't make it. Gyllenhall has been nominated for almost every major precursor award. Golden Globes: Check. Broadcast Film Critics Awards: Check. Screen Actors Guild: Check. Add in numerous regional nominations and the increasing buzz around Nightcrawler in general, and Gyllenhaal's odds have simply got better and better.
A film fanatic at a very young age, starting with the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle movies and gradually moving up to more sophisticated fare, at around the age of ten he became inexplicably obsessed with all things Oscar. With the incredibly trivial power of being able to chronologically name every Best Picture winner from memory, his lifelong goal is to see every Oscar nominated film, in every major category, in the history of the Academy Awards.
