Guillermo del Toro always has a variety of irons in the fire – and alongside his animated Pinocchio for Netflix, and his JJ Abrams collaboration Zanbato, it seems like he’s settled on his next project as director after his Oscar-winning The Shape Of Water. He’s directing Nightmare Alley, a new adaptation of a William Lindsay Gresham novel which he’s co-written with Kim Morgan, which was previously adapted for the screen in 1947. According to Variety, the film is heading into production this autumn – and Leonardo DiCaprio is set to be its leading star.
Gresham’s novel is set around a carnival, following a con-man mentalist named Stanton Carlisle who teams up with fellow sideshow artist Molly to set up an exploitative mind-reading act. While DiCaprio’s involvement isn’t fully signed off, and his proposed role is unconfirmed, it seems likely that he would play Carlisle. The story’s travelling-show setting, psychological mind-games, and roots in classic cinema sound like a top fit for del Toro, who’s often most at home when playing with ideas of monstrousness and societal outsiders.
Following the critical and awards success of The Shape Of Water, del Toro took a year off – not only for a personal break following the death of his father, but also to help kickstart the careers of other budding movie-makers. “I have used the time immediate to the Oscars to activate two scholarships for young Mexican filmmakers and activated an animation centre that will open next year and helped with the local cinematheque in my home town,” he told Empire last year. “I thought that the momentum needed to be used in that way.”
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