Guillermo del Toro has released the official teaser trailer for his upcoming film Nightmare Alley, which already shows he’ll yet again be an Oscar contender. Known for takes on horror, action, and fantasy, del Toro has been a consistently pleasant director in Hollywood since his rise to notoriety in the early 2000s. While he’s been known to tackle children’s animated films like Trollhunters and superhero flicks like Blade II and Hellboy, it's his dark, sophisticated drama-fantasies like Pan’s Labyrinth that have given del Toro his highest acclaim within the industry.
After some time away from more mature themes to focus on animated Dreamworks series like his Tales of Arcadia trilogy, del Toro is finally coming back to big-budget thriller-fantasy projects, the last of which, The Shape of Water, won him the Academy Award for Best Picture in 2018. Del Toro has plenty of creative freedom within the industry to make what he likes, but when he truly engages in his high concept passion projects, the awards seem to fly at him. Both Pan’s Labyrinth and The Shape of Water, which are stylistically similar, garnered him prestigious critical acclaim, and the parallel approach of Nightmare Alley teased in the trailer already indicates it’ll follow suit.
The quick glimpses of Nightmare Alley in the trailer reveal an exciting dark psychological thriller, with all of the classic Guillermo del Toro calls. Not only is the setting of a past-era carnival with a malicious premise at the hands of a horror auteur inviting, but del Toro's Nightmare Alley also has an all-star cast, many of whom are Oscar winners or multi-nominees themselves. Most of del Toro’s prestigious films had small, lesser-known casts, and Nightmare Alley is pulling out all the stops for Oscar wins with a cast that includes Bradley Cooper, Willem Dafoe, Rooney Mara, and Cate Blanchett among others. Putting such actors in an obviously well-crafted, sophisticated thriller is a recipe for Academy Award recognition.
Del Toro also hasn’t put out a new movie since his 2018 Shape of Water Best Picture and Best Director wins, so it’s possible he’s been waiting to conjure the perfect cast and script in an attempt to win the big awards for his features back-to-back. Much of the praise for The Shape of Water was del Toro’s visually distinct and striking direction, which already seems to be in use as he takes his cast of carnies back in time, portraying the classic thriller elements of femme fatales, scheming outsiders, and deception at every turn. Hollywood loves a movie about the past with a modern visual twist, just like Shape of Water, so it’s hard to believe del Toro won’t at least get another Best Director nomination at the Oscars for Nightmare Alley.
The most obvious tell from the Nightmare Alley trailer for Guillermo del Toro becoming an Oscars contender is the release date. Although a specific date hasn’t been attached, the final moments reveal Nightmare Alley will premiere in December 2021, which is notable for being the ideal timeframe for so-called Hollywood Oscar bait. It’s clearly intentional when prestigious thrillers by notable directors are released at this time, as it’s close to the cut-off date for 2022 Oscars consideration, much more recent in the voters’ minds than releases in the early fall or summer, and the holiday timeframe makes it easier for audiences to make the time to see it. For example, eight out of the nine nominees for Best Picture in 2020, including the winner, were released in the United States between September and December 2019. Del Toro will have some fierce competition with films like The French Dispatch, House of Gucci, and West Side Story releasing in the next few months, though Nightmare Alley will surely be in the race.