Why the car chase in 'Nightcrawler' rocked

Bryan Alexander | USA TODAY

Show Caption Hide Caption 'Nightcrawler' exclusive video 'Nightcrawler' exclusive video, the world behind the drama.

Nightcrawler was more than a highly-lauded drama with an Oscar-nominated screenplay and an award-winning performance by Jake Gyllenhaal (robbed of an Oscar nomination).

It also has the best car chase of 2014.

Gyllenhaal's news footage-seeking character overtakes the police in a prolonged, action-filled chase which would leave Fast & Furious fans breathless.

Director Dan Gilroy says he directed the car chase scene in the cinematic style of classic movies such as Bullitt and The French Connection.

Rather than pull the camera shot out of the car to show the various crashes and mayhem, he kept the camera primarily in Gyllenhaal's "hero car."

Directors didn't have a choice in the 70s. They had to keep the camera there. But Gilroy believes it builds the tension.

"The effect of having it in the hero car, the car where the actors are, is that it puts the audience very much in the chase," says Gilroy. "Chases now have become spectacle. It's like, 'Let's shoot the hell out of it. Let's jump to the intersection where we know there's going to be a crash. Let's get out of the car and shoot as wide as possible, 80 cuts in like four seconds.' Staying in the car makes it more frightening."

Portions of the chase can be seen on this clip, part of the Nightcrawler Blu-Ray/DVD release.

The terrifying action is seen out of the same windows that Gyllenhaal's character sees the fast-moving and on-coming police cars along with the SUV which he is pursuing.

Another part which makes the car scene great is frankly the wreckage. Gilroy figures they destroyed two specially-reinforced SUVs in the chase and three police cars -- one being completely T-boned at a true high speed.

Finally, Gyllenhaal proved to be an accomplished driver, threading his souped-up machine through the SUV and a parked car at the scene's finale, before pulling off a true 180 degree turn. All on camera.

"It was a tough move. Even the stunt guys were impressed. That was two takes and he nailed it," says Gilroy. "(Gyllenhaal) just stepped out of the car and he's like, 'We're moving on.' It was like whoa. It was very impressive."