Cannes: Jake Gyllenhaal's 'Nightcrawler' Goes to Open Road in U.S.

The Prisoners actor on the family business: "My family has been in the movie business — my weirdly extended and immediate family. The movies are such a big part of our interactions. It makes me anxious being around a table here because this particular scenario just makes me feel like the dinner table. (Laughs.)"

UPDATED: The crime-drama stars Gyllenhaal as a freelance crime reporter exploring L.A.'s shadowy underworld.

CANNES -- Open Road has snapped up U.S. rights to Jake Gyllenhaal's upcoming crime drama Nightcrawler for $4.5 million following a spirited bidding war.

The movie, now completed, sparked keen interest among domestic distributors on the ground at the Cannes Film Market. The Weinstein Co. and Focus Features were also in the bidding, with A24 Films and Fox Searchlight circling.

PHOTOS: The Scene at Cannes 2014

WME Global and CAA are co-repping the movie, with Sierra/Affinity handling international rights (Sierra is shopping the project to foreign buyers at Cannes).

Nightcrawler, now completed, marks the directorial debut of screenwriter Dan Gilroy. Rene Russo, Gilroy's wife, and Bill Paxton co-star in the movie.

Gilroy most recently co-wrote the screenplay for The Bourne Legacy with his brother Tony Gilroy. Tony Gilroy and Jennifer Fox, who collaborated on Michael Clayton, Duplicity and the Bourne series, are producing Nightcrawler with Gyllenhaal.

Bold Films' Michel Litvak and David Lancaster are also producers, while Gary Michael Walters is executive producing.



“We are thrilled to re-team with Jake Gyllenhaal, with whom we shared great success on End Of Watch,” Open Road CEO Tom Ortenberg said in a statement. “Dan and Tony Gilroy are incredibly talented and have made a fantastic film and we couldn’t be happier about adding Nightcrawler to our slate.”

Added Litvak, "We have watched Tom Ortenberg build a terrific marketing and distribution company from scratch over the last few years, and we are extremely delighted to finally find a film to work on together."