Jake Gyllenhaal briefly hospitalized after punching a mirror during 'emotionally charged' scene in 'Nightcrawlers'

Jake Gyllenhaal was so passionate about his acting in Nightcrawler that he was briefly hospitalized after punching a mirror during a scene.

Gylenhaal was taken to the hospital on Wednesday morning after the mirror broke and he got stitches in the emergency room.

"Jake flipped out. His character was looking into a mirror during the scene and punched the mirror in anger and broke it, cutting himself so bad he had to be taken to a hospital,” an on-set source told People.

Gyllenhaal, who lost 20 pounds for the role, simply got really into the "emotionally charged” scene. A source said, "It was all the scene and not because he was mad about anything else."

While at the Hollywood Film Awards recently, where he picked up an award for Prisoners, Gyllenhaal explained why he appeared so gaunt.

“Like I'm playing a character who's hungry, figuratively and literally, who's driven in ways to do things and succeed at any cost. I think that defines a generation in a lot of way so I wanted to get their mentally and then have it transform me physically, because I am not one to rely on science as much as I am on just sort of instinct. That's sort of the character.”

image: NBC