Jake Gyllenhaal: Nightcrawler Weight Loss Was ‘Risky’ (Exclusive)

After losing a reported 20lbs to play freelance crime reporter Lou Bloom in the stunning new thriller ‘Nightcrawler’, Jake Gyllenhaal has acknowledged that his extreme weight loss came associated with certain risks, and he’s concerned by the media obsession surrounding it.

"In order to [lose that weight] you have to be mindful," he explains in our interview above.

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"It’s actually been a bit disconcerting to me how mindless the coverage of the idea of losing weight for [‘Nightcrawler’] has been.

"There’s a real focus on the inaccuracies of how it’s done. I think if you’re thoughtful and mindful of how you take certain risks - obviously there are going to be risks on either side - but I tried to be [mindful] throughout all of it."

He told Us Weekly last year that Lou needed to be lean as he felt the character was “literally and figuratively hungry” so he got into a state where was “always a bit hungry”.

Since shooting the film in late 2013 Gyllenhaal has got himself back into shape. He says his first post-shoot meal was “waffles and fried chicken with maple syrup all over them”, but the rest was gained by eating a lot of pasta while shooting his new film ‘Everest’ in Italy.

The 33-year-old is no stranger to body transformations having beefed up for ‘Jarhead’ and for ‘Prince of Persia’ which he did by eating six meals a day and working out twice daily, six days a week.

Gyllenhaal is the latest in a long line of actors who’ve undergone extreme weight loss for roles including Tom Hanks in ‘Philadelphia’, Christian Bale in ‘The Machinist’, and more recently Matthew McConaughey in ‘Dallas Buyers Club’.

Mark Wahlberg’s new film ‘The Gambler’ sees the beefy star shed 60lbs to play gambling-addicted professor Jim Bennett, a process he admits left him “miserable”.

Whatever the reason, Jake Gyllenhaal’s performance as the self-help spouting sociopath Lou Bloom is a career-defining role and one that’s rightly garnering a huge amount of awards buzz right now.

'Nightcrawler' is in cinemas from today, and you can check out the trailer below.

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Image credits: eOne/Press Association/Disney