Do people still upload videos of themselves in lieu of essays for high profile jobs? I know for a minute, one of those cleverly-crafted (or not-so-clever) would bubble up to the surface and go viral, but I haven’t heard about many in the last couple of years.

Well, this “viral” teaser for the upcoming thriller Nightcrawler is here to remind us that they were a thing and, more importantly, that this Jake Gyllenhaal kid has the chops. The video, titled “Hard Worker Seeking Employment,” is the video resume of one Louis Bloom, a determined, dead-eyed go-getter who is probably willing to do whatever it takes to get ahead.

Nightcrawler co-stars Bill Paxton, Rene Russo and Riz Ahmed, and it’s the directorial debut of Real Steel and The Fall writer Dan Gilroy. According to the IMDB synopsis, the film follows an unemployed young man (Gyllenhaal), who somehow finds himself immersed in the world of underground crime reporting.

It’s being described as a crime thriller by The Playlist, and it looks like the kind of like a chance for its lead to flex some of those creepy-obsessive acting skills he displayed in films like Enemy and the excellent Zodiac (or was I the only one who felt that family man Robert Graysmith had something dark and a little off about him?). Gyllenhaal is acting through weight loss here, pulling a Christian Bale and slimming down, making Louis look extra desperate, almost predatory.

Nightcrawler will be out October 17 through Open Road films, but expect to see it maybe popping up on the festival circuit before then.

[HT: The Playlist]