By James White | Posted 29 Sep 2019

Guillermo del Toro has been building a fantastic cast for his return to directing with noir thriller Nightmare Alley. And his latest hire, David Strathairn, is right up there in terms of talent.

GDT worked with Kim Morgan to adapt William Lindsay Gresham’s novel, and the story is set around a carnival, following a con-man mentalist named Stanton Carlisle (Bradley Cooper), who teams up with fellow sideshow artist Molly (Rooney Mara) to set up an exploitative mind-reading act. The narrative'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. The 1946 novel was previously filmed in 1947 by Edmund Goulding.

Cate Blanchett and a rumoured Ron Perlman (which makes sense given his del Toro history) are also in the cast, while The Shape Of Water's Michael Shannon is no longer attached because of a schedule clash. Del Toro aims to have the cameras rolling early next year in Toronto.