Guillermo del Toro won Oscars for Best Picture, Best Director with The Shape of Water and Best Picture. Nightmare Alley was his choice, a noir thriller set in a carnival with some of the most prominent directors.
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Bradley Cooper, Willem Dafoe and Cate Blanchett are all part of what del Toro assures viewers is not a supernatural movie, despite the title and trailer strongly suggesting otherwise. According to del Toro, there is no supernatural element in this film. It is based entirely on a real world. It is not a fantastic movie. It's not a great movie.
You think so? We do. Take a look at Nightmare Alley's trailer.
Stanton Carlisle, Cooper's character is the man or beast in Nightmare Alley. He is a former carnival worker and uses the tricks he learned to con millionaires of their money. He pretends he can read minds. The shady character gets into a lot of trouble for his ruse.
Based on William Lindsay Gresham's 1946 novel, the movie was made in 1947. Kim Morgan, Del Toro, and Kim Morgan were both inspired by the novel. They chose to adapt the story, but not the movie. However, they were less interested in the complex story than the unique noir setting it was set in. The novel's universe is gritty but strangely magical, so I wanted to recreate it. It is mystical, mysterious and mythical. He said that I was attracted to this possibility.
Fox will open Nightmare Alley on December 17 in theaters, setting it up for another Guillermo del Toro award run. This film noir will have a supernatural feel and work, even though it is not supernatural. We wouldn't bet against the man behind Pacific Rim and Pans Labyrinth, Hellboy, Pans Labyrinth, and The Devils Backbone.
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