First Look: Guillermo Del Toro’s ‘Nightmare Alley’ With Bradley Cooper, Cate Blanchett, Rooney Mara & More

What happens when you win the Best Picture for your surreal but enchanting and romantic woman-falls-for-a-Merman movie? Well, if you’re Guillermo del Toro and your movie is “The Shape Of Water,” you get a kind of blank check for your next project and a whole hell of a lot of actors that probably already wanted to work with you, lining up to work with you. Case in point, after “Shape Of Water,” del Toro was able to make “Nightmare Alley,” and the cast? It’s insane and arguably the most stacked of 2021 that features Bradley Cooper, Cate Blanchett, Willem Dafoe, Toni Collette, Richard Jenkins, Ron Perlman, Rooney Mara, Holt McCallany, Clifton Collins Jr., Tim Blake Nelson, Mary Steenburgen, and David Strathairn. That’s a lot of talent and Oscar-winners and nominees in that group, so you can understand why Searchlight Pictures, who released “Shape of Water,” is hoping this is another Oscar player and giving it a nice awards season December 17 bow.

READ MORE: Fall 2021 Movie Preview: 60+ Must-See Films

Vanity Fair has the first look of the film, and man, does it look rather terrific. What’s it about? Well, don’t expect straight-up horror as it’s already based on a 1940s classic noir film of the same name, itself based on the 1946 book written by William Lindsay Gresham.

READ MORE: The Best Films Of 2021, So Far

“That is a distinct possibility,” del Toro told Vanity Fair about audiences potentially misperceiving the film, or expecting something else. “It has happened to me in the past with ‘Crimson Peak,’ where people went in expecting a horror movie. I knew it was a gothic romance but it was very difficult to put that across. But yes, this has no supernatural element. It’s based completely in a reality world. There is nothing fantastic. It’s a very different movie from my usual, but yes, the title and my name would create that [impression].”

READ MORE: Guillermo Del Toro’s ‘Nightmare Alley‘ Was Intended For Venice But Won’t Be Finished In Time

More specifically, the film centers on Stan Carlisle (Cooper), an ambitious carny with a talent for manipulating people with a few well-chosen words, and how he hooks up with Dr. Lilith Ritter (Blanchett), a psychiatrist who is even more dangerous than he is.

READ MORE: Bradley Cooper and Guillermo del Toro Talk “Nightmare Alley,” COVID Interruptions, & Creating Characters [Tribeca Report]

Vanity Fair has more details, but we’ll be sure to hear about this more soon. Where? Maybe a premiere at AFI Fest later this year? Until then, or a trailer, “Nightmare Alley” hits theaters on December 17. Take a peek at the intriguing first look pictures below.