Trama

A petty thief desperate for work muscles into the world of crime journalism and becomes the star of his own story as he blurs the line between observer and participant.

NIGHTCRAWLER is a thriller set in the nocturnal underbelly of contemporary Los Angeles. Jake Gyllenhaal stars as Lou Bloom, a driven young man desperate for work who discovers the high-speed world of L.A. crime journalism. Finding a group of freelance camera crews who film crashes, fires, murder and other mayhem, Lou muscles into the cut-throat, dangerous realm of nightcrawling - where each police siren wail equals a possible windfall and victims are converted into dollars and cents. Aided by Rene Russo as Nina, a veteran of the blood-sport that is local TV news, Lou blurs the line between observer and participant to become the star of his own story.—Open Road Films

Louis Bloom is something of a loner who is unemployed and ekes out a living stealing and then reselling copper wire, fencing and most anything else he can get his hands on. When late one night he comes across an accident being filmed by independent news photographer Joe Loder, he thinks he may have found something he would be good at. He acquires an inexpensive video camera and a police scanner and is soon spending his nights racing to accidents, robberies and fire scenes. He develops a working relationship with Nina Romina, news director for a local LA TV station. As the quality of his video footage improves so does his remuneration and he hires Rick, young and unemployed, to work with him. The more successful he becomes however, the more apparent it becomes that Louis will do anything - anything - to get visuals from crime scenes.—garykmcd

Louis Bloom is a guy who's a thief and hustler. He wants to do something else only thing no one wants to give him a chance. One day he witnesses an accident and while the CHP helps the driver, some men show up and record the whole thing. He learns that they intend to sell the footage to a TV news program. So Bloom decides to get into it. He starts small. Eventually the station where he sells his footage to, is impressed with him. Later he comes across a murder and gets there before the police do and records the dead bodies. But he also manages to get the killers on tape but doesn't give it. Instead he intends to wait till he can call the police and record them being arrested. But it doesn't exactly work out that way.—rcs0411@yahoo.com

Lou Bloom (Jake Gyllenhaal) is a petty thief in search of a payday when he stumbles onto the scene of a grisly car accident, and witnesses seasoned "Nightcrawler" Joe Loder (Bill Paxton) gathering video footage for a local news broadcast. Convinced that this is a career he could excel at, Lou promptly purchases a police scanner and a cheap video camera, and hits the streets. In short order Lou has hired an assistant (Riz Ahmed) to help him navigate the city streets, and started selling footage to local TV producer Nina (Rene Russo), one of Joe's regular buyers. A fast learner with an eye for detail, Lou isn't above manipulating a crime scene in order to get a picture that tells a story. When Lou beats the police to the scene of a deadly home invasion in an affluent neighborhood, however, his shocking footage catches the attention of two homicide detectives who suspect he's hiding evidence that could be crucial to their investigation. But that very footage may be just what Lou needs to enter the big time..

Caught stealing late at night, from a Los Angeles construction site, Louis "Lou" Bloom (Jake Gyllenhaal) attacks the guard, steals his watch and leaves with stolen manhole covers, fencing, and other materials. After negotiating a price for the stolen material at a scrap yard, Bloom asks for a job, but the foreman at the scrap yard, who has already been questioned by police looking for the manhole covers, tells him that he will not employ a thief. Lou argues that he is a hard worker, unlike the Facebook generation of today. Lou is even willing to do an unpaid internship before being offered a paid job, but the foreman simply refuses.

While driving home in his beat-up Toyota Tercel, Lou sees a car crash and pulls over. Stringers or freelance photojournalists, arrive and record two police officers pulling a woman from the burning wreckage. One of the stringers, Joe Loder, explains to Lou that they sell their footage to local news stations. Loder works out a van in which he carries a lot of expensive camera and sound equipment, as well hardware and software to edit the videos and transmit them to news stations. Lou asks Loder for a job, but he wasn't hiring either. Loder also refuses to divulge what he gets pays for the footage. Loder then drives off to the scene of the next event.

The next morning at 6 am news, Lou watches the footage taken by Loder being broadcast by a local news channel. Inspired by a freelance film crew he sees working the scene of a car crash, led by cameraman Joe Loder (Bill Paxton), Bloom steals a racing bicycle and trades it for a camcorder and a radio scanner. That night Bloom shoots the aftermath of a carjacking, moving up close and filming the victim's death to compete with Joe Loder's higher quality footage. Lou gets both him and Loder kicked off the crime scene, and they become rivals and competitors.

Bloom offers the footage to a local TV station. The morning news director, Nina Romina (Rene Russo), buys the footage and encourages Bloom to continue his work. She stipulates that the station is most interested in footage of violent incidents in affluent, predominantly white neighborhoods since these attract the most viewers. Bloom hires an assistant, Rick Carey (Riz Ahmed), a young homeless man desperate for money, and begins his career as a professional stringer.

To get better footage, Bloom alters crime scenes, in one case moving the body of a car crash victim to make a better shot. However, Loder beats Bloom to several important stories and has access to more advanced equipment. Bloom's work begins to gain traction, and he purchases better equipment and trades his old 1985 Toyota Tercel for a faster and brand-new Dodge Challenger.

Lou pressures Nina into a date, telling her he knows she is desperate for higher ratings. On their date, he threatens to terminate his business with Nina unless she has sex with him, and it is implied that she acquiesces. The next day he turns down a business offer from Loder, who beats him to an important plane crash story later that night. Nina explodes in anger at Bloom, demanding he get footage that viewers "can't turn away from" and keep his end of their bargain. Bloom sabotages Loder's van, causing him to crash into a telephone pole and become gravely injured.

Later that night, Bloom and Carey arrive at the site of a home invasion in an affluent neighborhood before the police. Bloom records footage of the gunmen leaving in their SUV and of the murder victims in the house. The news staff worry that airing the footage is unethical, but Romina is eager to break the story. In exchange, Bloom demands public credit and more money.

Police detective Frontieri (Michael Hyatt) shows up at Lou's apartment to question him about his connection to the home invasion. He gives her edited footage of the incident, cutting out the parts with the gunmen.

That night, Lou and Rick track down the driver to his house, staking out the house until he leaves to pick up his partner. Lou wants to follow them to a more crowded public area, then call the police and record the ensuing confrontation. Alarmed, Rick demands half of the reward money for locating the gunmen, threatening to tell the police about Lou's withholding of evidence. Bloom agrees, but demands Carey get out of the car to shoot a supporting angle. Carey complies when Bloom threatens him with violence.

When the gunmen stop at a restaurant, Lou phones the police, warning them that the suspects are armed. They arrive and exchange gunfire. A police officer is shot and one of the killers is gunned down while the other manages to escape in the Escalade. The police give chase. Lou and Rick follow close behind in the Challenger, filming the chase as it happens, culminating in a long multiple-car collision. After the gunman's Escalade crashes, Lou approaches the vehicle, claiming that the gunman is dead and urging Rick to film him. The gunman is revealed to be alive as he shoots Rick, flees, and is killed by arriving police officers. As Rick lies dying, Lou films him and tells him that he cannot work with someone who successfully extorted him for withholding evidence, because he knows it will happen again.

Nina is awed by the chase footage and expresses her devotion to Lou. The news team discovers that the home invasion was actually the criminals breaking in to steal cocaine that the homeowners were stashing; Nina refuses to report this information to maximize the story's impact. Police try to confiscate Lou's footage as evidence, but Nina defends her right to withhold it and airs it immediately. Lou voluntarily speaks with Detective Frontieri. While being interrogated by Frontieri, Lou fabricates a story about the men in the Escalade following him. Frontieri knows he is lying but cannot prove it. Later, Lou hires a team of interns to expand his business, saying that he will not ask them to do anything he is unwilling to do himself.