Guillermo Del Toro's 'Nightmare Alley' Has Wrapped, Will Hit Theaters Late Next Year

Nightmare Alley, Guillermo del Toro's first feature film since winning a bunch of Oscars for The Shape of Water, has finally wrapped. Principal photography on the pic began in January 2020, but everything had to shut down in March due to the coronavirus. Filming resumed in September, and now del Toro himself has announced that the production has wrapped and that the finished product will arrive in one year. Based on the book by William Lindsay Gresham, Nightmare Alley is about "a ruthless hustler who learns the tricks of the carny trade."

Above you can see a masked Guillermo del Toro on "a cold Canadian night" announcing that filming on Nightmare Alley has wrapped. While del Toro has produced plenty of stuff in the last few years, this is his first feature directorial effort since 2017's The Shape of Water, and that's exciting.

In Nightmare Alley, "An ambitious young carny (Bradley Cooper) with a talent for manipulating people with a few well-chosen words hooks up with a female psychiatrist (Cate Blanchett) who is even more dangerous than he is." It's based on the book by William Lindsay Gresham, and that book was previously adapted into a 1947 movie starring Tyrone Power. However, that film took some liberties with the material, while del Toro's version – which he wrote with Kim Morgan – is said to be more faithful.

In addition to Cooper and Blanchett, the very impressive cast includes Willem Dafoe, Toni Collette, Richard Jenkins, Ron Perlman, Rooney Mara, and David Strathairn. Filming on Nightmare Alley had to shut down in March due to the pandemic, but now del Toro and company have been able to wrap things up. As of now, the plan is to release Nightmare Alley in theaters in December 2021.