Jake Gyllenhaal is a regular Joe Schmoe who ends up on a lifesaving mission from the 911 dispatcher’s desk one morning in Netflix’s The Guilty, a film directed by Antoine Fuqua.
This is no regular workday for Joe Bayler, who usually spends his hours fielding phony calls or connecting callers to the most helpful party (whether that be the fire department or the police). The former detective soon finds himself racing to save a mysterious woman named Emily, who calls 911 under the guise of speaking to her child. It becomes clear that she’s in danger, but as Bayler tries to get more information, she has to hang up the phone, telling him, “I’m gonna die.”
With just a few pieces of information, Bayler sets out to find the woman and return her to her child, but his mission is not without its complications. As law enforcement’s resources are limited due to a raging forest fire and Emily’s daughter begins calling looking for answers about her mother, the stress is dialed up for Gyllenhaal’s Bayler. Details begin to emerge and from the looks of the trailer the case ends up being more than a kidnapping.
The thriller is an adaptation of a 2018 Danish film of the same name (Den Skyldige), directed by Gustav Möller. The remake is penned by True Detective writer Nic Pizzolatto, with Antoine Fuqua directing (Training Day, The Equalizer). The Guilty also stars Peter Sarsgaard, Bill Burr, Riley Keough, Paul Dano, Ethan Hawke, Da’Vine Joy Randolph, David Castañeda, Adrian Martinez, and Honey Boy actor Byron Bowers.
In addition to The Guilty, Gyllenhaal has two other action thrillers on the docket, including Michael Bay’s Ambulance. The Nightcrawler actor will also star in Rawson Marshall Thurber’s film adaptation of the video game The Division for Netflix. The Guilty arrives on Netflix October 1.