Nightmare Alley Movie Storyline. Based on the novel of the same name by William Lindsay Gresham, the story follows Stanton “Stan” Carlisle, a carny who’s always looking for the next angle to advance himself. While his fellow carnies seem fairly content at their easygoing life in the carnival, Stan has larger ambitions, and he sees a way to realize them when he learns about a particular trick from his coworker Zeena, who used to work the crowd with her now painfully soused partner Pete (Ian Keith).
Once Stan learns the trick and sees it as a way to play to wealthier audiences, he teams up with the sweet and innocent Molly to hustle upper crust society at nightclubs where he claims he can read their minds. It’s here that he meets up with psychologist Lilith Ritter, and the two realize they’re kindred spirits when it comes to the con game.
Nightmare Alley is an American psychological thriller film directed by Guillermo del Toro with a screenplay by del Toro and Kim Morgan, based on the novel of the same name by William Lindsay Gresham. The film features an ensemble cast that includes 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. It is scheduled to be released on December 3, 2021, by Searchlight Pictures.
Just What Is Nightmare Alley?
Nightmare Alley is a 1946 noir novel by William Lindsay Gresham that was first turned into a film only one year later, in 1947. The film starred then-superstar Tyrone Power and actress Joan Blondell. The book and film follow the rise and fall of a con man who uses a circus sideshow to swindle the rich out of their money. The 1947 film built an entire working carnival on the Twentieth Century Fox backlot just for shooting scenes for this movie.
Although not originally a box office success, it has gone on to become a cult classic of the noir genre. Just like his Oscar-winning film The Shape of Water, it’ll be coming from Fox Searchlight. He also be writing the script with Kim Morgan. According to reports, it’ll be based more on the novel than the original big screen version.
The film already boasts an incredible cast, and it’s unlikely that all the main roles have even been filled yet. Bradley Cooper is playing the lead character of Stanton “Stan” Carlisle. Also in the cast are Rooney Mara and Cate Blanchett, as well as del Toro’s Shape of Water actor Richard Jenkins.
Director Guillermo del Toro is following up his award-winning film The Shape of Water with an adaptation of ’40s noir film Nightmare Alley, and it’s already got a cast to die for. Starring Bradley Cooper as a con artist who swindles the wealthy out of their cash at a circus sideshow, the film already has the likes of Cate Blanchett attached to co-star. Here’s what we know so far about del Toro’s sure-to-be deliciously dark film.
Just What Is Nightmare Alley?
Nightmare Alley is a 1946 noir novel by William Lindsay Gresham that was first turned into a film only one year later, in 1947. The film starred then-superstar Tyrone Power and actress Joan Blondell. The book and film follow the rise and fall of a con man who uses a circus sideshow to swindle the rich out of their money. The 1947 film built an entire working carnival on the Twentieth Century Fox backlot just for shooting scenes for this movie.
Although not originally a box office success, it has gone on to become a cult classic of the noir genre. Just like his Oscar-winning film The Shape of Water, it’ll be coming from Fox Searchlight. He also be writing the script with Kim Morgan. According to reports, it’ll be based more on the novel than the original big screen version.
The film already boasts an incredible cast, and it’s unlikely that all the main roles have even been filled yet. Bradley Cooper is playing the lead character of Stanton “Stan” Carlisle. Also in the cast are Rooney Mara and Cate Blanchett, as well as del Toro’s Shape of Water actor Richard Jenkins.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, another addition to the cast is Toni Collette as the carnival mentalist named Zeena, who mentors Cooper’s character. A con artist herself, she’ll be teaching Cooper how to swindle from the rich and a sideshow circus. Collette is adding another dark tale to her resume which already includes Hereditary and The Sixth Sense. David Strathairn will play the alcoholic husband of Collette’s Zeena.
Variety reports that Willem Dafoe has also now officially signed on for this film, playing the head barker at a traveling carnival who gives Bradley Cooper’s lead character a job, thereby “ushering him into a world of show biz and grifting.” Mindhunter star Holt McCallany will play a character named Anderson, who Deadline described as “a get-the-job-done bruiser with more going on that is first apparent from his tough guy persona.”
About the Filming
Principal photography began in January 2020 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Production temporarily moved to Buffalo, New York in February 2020, in order for del Toro to take advantage of the city’s architecture and unfamiliar setting: “I wanted to find a city that was really interesting to visit for an audience, that was not a city they were overtly familiar with.” Scenes were filmed in and outside of Buffalo’s Niagara Square and City Hall, and required the use of fake snow, much to the surprise of the crew, as Buffalo was widely known for its heavy snowfall during the winter season.
Principal photography was initially set to begin in September 2019, but was delayed to accommodate Cooper’s schedule. “We shot the second half before the first half,” Cooper revealed. “We didn’t want to do it that way. Things happened to us, with sets and other actors’ availability and water, the snow and all that. I was the cause. I had moved to New York and said, ‘I can’t do it right now. Let me get settled.'”
In March 2020, Del Toro himself shut down production on the film after rising concerns regarding the COVID-19 pandemic: “We stopped the shoot a week before [the industry shut down] […] That saved us. Nobody to my knowledge in the cast or the crew got coronavirus.” Del Toro later reflected that “Stopping was not mandatory back then, but we both felt if we don’t stop now and someone gets sick — we said, ‘we gotta stop.’ Nobody was expecting it. Everybody went to lunch and came back six months later.” Disney officially halted production on the film soon after.
Del Toro revealed that when production was shut down, approximately 45% of the film was shot, and spent his time editing available footage during the hiatus. Del Toro also composed an 80-page safety precaution guideline to be used when production was to resume, which he was hoping to do in the fall of 2020. Variety reported that Blanchett had completed her scenes prior to the shutdown.
Production resumed in September 2020 in Toronto. In an interview, Collette discussed some of the film’s safety protocols: “[…] I’ve got to say, I think, you couldn’t get any safer than a film set. They’re so regimented and disciplined and demanding in terms of having to toe the line and everyone does their best to not get it. You really are in a bubble and the whole of Toronto is in masks and you’re just sanitizing your hands a million times a day and trying not to be in big crowds and you just have to be mindful of that. Especially when you’re working, because there’s a bigger risk there. It’s not just you, it’s everyone else, you know?” Collette also revealed that del Toro had shot almost four hours of footage. By November 2020, principal photography was completed and re-shoots had commenced. Production officially wrapped in December 2020.
Del Toro and Cooper reflected that the unexpected shooting schedule benefited the film’s structure. Del Toro remarked that “It was a blessing […] I believe wholeheartedly life gives you what you need, not what you want. You have a window to look at everything. It was incredible. We got to see these characters, when [Stanton Carlisle] was full of himself and arrogant and certain and seeking.
We were able to go back six months in between all this and were able to analyze and see not only that character but what we needed to rewrite to be able to go back to a set. If your pores are open, the movie finds you. Each movie tells you what it needs.” Cooper further stated that “This movie needed that rigor. Thank god we had that time. As simple a story is, it demanded all our concentration and focus, all that time. I don’t think we realized how much it demanded of us at the beginning. That was the discovery. There is arrogance. You think you can do it, then, ‘how is this possible?’”
Nightmare Alley (2021)
Directed by: Guillermo del Toro
Starring: Bradley Cooper, Cate Blanchett, Willem Dafoe, Toni Collette, Richard Jenkins, Ron Perlman, Rooney Mara, Holt McCallany, Tim Blake Nelson, Mary Steenburgen, David Strathairn
Screenplay by: Guillermo del Toro, Kim Morgan
Production Design by: Tamara Deverell
Cinematography by: Dan Laustsen
Film Editing by: Cam McLauchlin
Costume Design by: Luis Sequeira
Set Decoration by: Shane Vieau
Art Direction by: Brandt Gordon
Music by: Alexandre Desplat
MPAA Rating: R for strong/bloody violence, some sexual content, nudity and language.
Distributed by: Searchlight Pictures
Release Date: December 3, 2021
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