Production Begins on Guillermo del Toro’s Nightmare Alley With Bradley Cooper, Cate Blanchett & Rooney Mara

It’s been three years since Guillermo del Toro‘s last film, his Oscar-winning love story The Shape of Water, which won four Academy Awards, including Best Picture and Best Director. Now production has begun on his next project, Nightmare Alley, which del Toro and screenwriter Kim Morgan have adapted from William Lindsay Gresham’s novel of the same name. The film has an insanely great cast and centers on a con-man and a female psychiatrist who help bilk people of their hard-earned cash. Every del Toro project is worth getting excited about; with a cast that includes Bradley Cooper, Cate Blanchett, Rooney Mara, Toni Collette, David Strathairn, Willem Dafoe, and Holt McCallany, even folks who don’t thrill to the auteur’s blend of multiple genres (often with lovingly crafted creatures at the center) will likely be intrigued.

A new photo from producer J. Miles Dale, who worked with Del Toro on The Shape of Water, celebrates the start of production on Nightmare Alley. The photo confirms that del Toro is working with his Crimson Peak and The Shape of Water cinematographer Dan Laustsen, who earned an Oscar nomination for the latter.

Excited to start shooting today on our new adventure NIGHTMARE ALLEY with @RealGDT and many of our regular gang. pic.twitter.com/lzPHhXpppI

— J. Miles Dale (@milofx1) January 21, 2020

Nightmare Alley is being described as a noir, which is really interesting considering del Toro’s had such success in nearly every genre but noir. Although one could make a case that his brilliant, heartbreaking film Pan’s Labyrinth had some noir-ish elements, seeing del Toro tackle the genre full stop will be fascinating. He’s done full-on drama like Crimson Peak and Pan’s Labyrinth, and blockbusters like Pacific Rim and his two Hellboy installments. His patient, painstaking attention to detail will likely lend itself well to the genre, and his facility with actors will be on full display with this super talented cast.

Nightmare Alley‘s premiere date is still unknown, but it’s coming from Walt Disney Studio’s newly named Searchlight Pictures, previously Fox Searchlight.

Featured image: Richard Jenkins, director Guillermo del Toro and Sally Hawkins on the set of THE SHAPE OF WATER. Photo by Kerry Hayes. © 2017 Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation All Rights Reserved