Lies, treachery and deceit highlight the first teaser for Guillermo del Toro’s star-studded carny saga ‘Nightmare Alley’

“Is he man or beast?”

Searchlight Pictures has released the first teaser for Academy Award winner Guillermo del Toro’s long-anticipated Nightmare Alley, where an ambitious carny (8-time Academy Award nominee Bradley Cooper) with a talent for manipulating people with a few well-chosen words hooks up with a female psychiatrist (two-time Academy Award winner Cate Blanchett) who is even more dangerous than he is.

The film also stars Academy Award nominees Rooney Mara, Toni Collette, Willem Dafoe, David Strathairn and Richard Jenkins, with Ron Perlman, Clifton Collins, Jr., Holt McCallany, Jim Beaver, Tim Blake Nelson and Academy Award winner Mary Steenburgen.

Principal photography was initially set to begin in September 2019, but was delayed to accommodate Cooper’s schedule and ultimately began in January 2020. In March 2020, Del Toro himself shut down production on the film after rising concerns over the COVID-19 pandemic after approximately 45% of the film had been finished. Production resumed in September 2020 in Toronto. By November 2020, principal photography was completed and re-shoots were underway. Production on the film officially wrapped in December 2020.

Kim Morgan and del Toro adapted the script based on the 1946 novel by William Lindsay Gresham and features a crew that includes two-time Academy Award-winning composer Alexandre Desplat, Academy Award-nominated cinematographer Dan Laustsen, production designer Tamara Deverell, costumes by Academy Award nominee Luis Sequeira and film editing by Cam McLauchlin.

Searchlight Pictures will release Nightmare Alley only in theaters on December 17.