There are very few awards contenders left to screen this Oscar season. The one film that has purposefully set itself up to show its wares last, however, is Guillermo Del Toro’s long-awaited thriller “Nightmare Alley.” The curtain will go up on his adaptation of William Lindsay Gresham‘s 1941 novel on Dec. 1. In the meantime, Searchlight Pictures has released the film’s new, full trailer which you can watch below.
Del Toro’s first feature since “The Shape of Water” took Best Picture in 2018, “Nightmare Alley” centers on a hustler, Stan Carlisle (Bradley Cooper), who finds himself entangled with Dr. Lilith Ritter (Cate Blanchett), a psychiatrist who maybe be more than he can handle. The film features a prestige-friendly cast including Toni Collette, Willem Dafoe, Richard Jenkins, Rooney Mara, Ron Perlman, David Straithairn, Mary Steenburgen, and Tim Blake Nelson, among others.
Here’s the official synopsis:
When charismatic but down-on-his-luck Stanton Carlisle (Bradley Cooper) endears himself to clairvoyant Zeena (Toni Collette) and her has-been mentalist husband Pete (David Strathairn) at a traveling carnival, he crafts a golden ticket to success, using this newly acquired knowledge to grift the wealthy elite of 1940s New York society. With the virtuous Molly (Rooney Mara) loyally by his side, Stanton plots to con a dangerous tycoon (Richard Jenkins) with the aid of a mysterious psychiatrist (Cate Blanchett) who might be his most formidable opponent yet.
Outside of Best Picture and Best Director consideration, Cooper, who also appears in Paul Thomas Anderson’s “Licorice Pizza,” and Cate Blanchett are expected to be in the running for Best Actor and Best Supporting Actress nominations.
“Nightmare Alley” opens nationwide on Dec. 17. Watch the trailer below.