Guillermo del Toro is reportedly lining up a big-name cast to star in his new take on William Lindsay Gresham's 1946 novel, Nightmare Alley. After years of churning out celebrated (if sometimes under-seen) movies about monsters, giant monsters, comic book monsters, and otherwise monstrous humans, del Toro took home his first Oscars for Best Picture and Best Director on 2017's monster romance, The Shape of Water. He's been keeping rather busy ever since and is currently in the midst of assembling a cast for his next live-action film, Nightmare Alley.
Previously adapted as a film in 1947, Nightmare Alley follows Stanton Carlisle, a con artist who goes into business with an equally deceitful mentalist, Zeena Krumbein, at a sleazy carnival (before his ego starts to get the better of him, that is). Leonardo DiCaprio was circling the male lead role earlier this year, but ultimately passed to go work on Martin Scorsese's Killers of the Flower Moon next, instead. He's since been replaced by Bradley Cooper - who, by the look of things, will end up being but one of several A-list actors in the movie's cast.
According to Variety, Cate Blanchett is currently in talks to join Cooper in the cast of Nightmare Alley. Meanwhile, Collider is reporting that Toni Collette, Willem Dafoe, Rooney Mara, Richard Jenkins, Ron Perlman, Mark Povinelli, and Michael Shannon are all circling key roles in the film, along with Blanchett.
In addition to being celebrated actors in their own right, many of these names have either worked with del Toro before (Jenkins and Shannon were in The Shape of Water; Perlman's being working with del Toro since his feature debut on 1993's Cronos), or with one another, in the case of ex-Carol stars Blanchett and Roony. Collider adds that Collette is currently in the running to play Zeena, aka. Mademoiselle Zeena, with Dafoe potentially eying the role of her alcoholic husband, Pete. Elsewhere, Perlman is up to portray Bruno the strongman, with Mara playing Molly (a younger woman who catches Stan's eye), and Blanchett portraying Stan's possibly untrustworthy psychologist. Finally, Jenkins will play one of Stan's marks (if he signs on), with Povinelli and Shannon's smaller roles being kept under wraps for the time being.
Assuming this cast comes together, Nightmare Alley will join Rian Johnson's Knives Out and Denis Villeneuve's Dune as having one of the best and most star-studded ensembles for an upcoming movie. Clearly, actors are excited to collaborate with del Toro after The Shape of Water, and with fair reason. Not only that, the filmmaker's projects always boast incredibly detailed production design, and Nightmare Alley's carnival and historical noir setting will no doubt look dazzling in his hands. And with production expected to get underway by either late 2019 or early 2020, it shouldn't be all that long before there's more concrete news to report on Nightmare Alley in general.