EXCLUSIVE: Holt McCallany’s Christmas looks like it’s coming a little early this year

The Mindhunter star is already before the cameras on the other side of the Atlantic for Guy Ritchie’s Cash Truck with Jason Statham, as Deadline revealed last month. Now I hear that the actor is joining Cate Blanchett, Rooney Mara, Willem Defoe and Bradley Cooper in Guillermo del Toro’s Nightmare Alley.

The deal for the Buchwald, Atlas Artists and attorney Rick Genow repped McCallany to get on board with the del Toro, J. Miles Dale and TSG Entertainment produced drama just came together.

As a part of that cast, which also includes Toni Collette and David Strathairn, McCallany will play Anderson, a get-the-job-done bruiser with more going on that is first apparent from his tough guy persona.

Based on William Lindsay Gresham’s 1946 novel revolving around an ex-carnival con-man turned spiritualist, played by Cooper, who teams up with a female psychiatrist to scoop cash out of the wallets and lives of their wealthy marks with some less than holy moves – until things turn. The del Toro and Kim Morgan penned Fox Searchlight flick is the director’s first time back behind the camera since The Shape of Water won the Academy Award for Best Picture. Which is longish way of saying, it’s a pretty powerful bundle with a top tier cast.

BTW – if you think you’ve heard some of this before late one night on TV, you’re correct. Tyrone Power and Coleen Gray starred in a 1947 adaptation of Gresham’s book that was directed by Edmund Goulding. This Nightmare Alley is looking at a Toronto shot next year with a possible 2021 release.

Previously known for his bare- knuckled stint with Brad Pitt and Edward Norton in David Fincher’s Fight Club, McCallany has found all new horizons as FBIAgent Bill Tench opposite Jonathan Groff in Netflix’s magnetic serial killer drama Mindhunter. The acclaimed Fincher and Charlize Theron EP’d series is waiting for a Season 3 green light from the streamer after the show’s second season debuted in August (see my review here). The actor’s more recent big screen performances include Sully, Jack Reacher: Never Go Back , a blink and you’d miss him turn in Justice League and Shot Caller and is next up in the French-language film Le Dindon.