New Nightmare Alley Image Teases Bradley Cooper And Cate Blanchett In Guillermo Del Toro's Dark Noir

If the idea of Guillermo del Toro tipping his toes into the water of film noir doesn't excite you, then I'm afraid nothing will. The filmmaker with a deep and abiding love of movie monsters is taking a trip into uncharted territory, leaving creature features behind for a change to focus on something even scarier: people. The initial trailer for "Nightmare Alley" made a very convincing case that this will be an absolute must-watch, featuring what could very well be del Toro's darkest film yet. This latest project comes loaded with A-list stars, including Cate Blanchett, Bradley Cooper, Willem Dafoe, Rooney Mara, Ron Perlman, Toni Collette, David Strathairn, Tim Blake Nelson, and more. The latest promo image released for the film puts the focus squarely on Blanchett and Cooper's characters, which you can see below.

What are the chances that Guillermo del Toro will include a "Hey, my girlfriend saw you from across the bar and we really dig your vibe. Can we buy you a drink?" line of dialogue in this movie? Not very likely, got it. Empire released a new image from "Nightmare Alley" that boldly features nothing but Cate Blanchett and Bradley Cooper staring deep into the depths of our souls ... and we're not mad about it.

Cooper portrays Stanton Carlisle, the carnival conman with no shortage of dubious morality to go around. He's joined by Blanchett's Lilith Ritter, a psychologist and fellow worker at a carnival who seeks to expose Carlisle for what he is. In classic film noir fashion, both are described to be "...caught up in a twisted plot." The story is based on the original 1946 William Lindsay Gresham novel, which has been adapted once before for a 1947 film. Don't expect a straight remake of the previous movie, however. As del Toro puts it:

"We're willfully allowing that movie to exist in its own space. One of the things we decided is to not watch that movie again. We both liked what existed in it, we think it has terrific things in it, but what I wanted to do was, no pun intended, closer to a nightmare. It belongs to a genre only in that it deals with the underbelly or the flip side of the American Dream, which is always a nightmare."

Written by del Toro and Kim Morgan, "Nightmare Alley" will arrive in theaters on December 3, 2021.