Guillermo del Toro says Nightmare Alley won’t contain supernatural elements

Last Updated on July 30, 2021

When you look at all of Guillermo del Toro's films, from CHRONOS to THE SHAPE OF WATER, they all deal with some form of monster and/or the supernatural, but the director will be leaving the supernatural behind with his upcoming adaptation of William Lindsey Gresham's "Nightmare Alley."

While speaking with Collider during press-day for SCARY STORIES TO TELL IN THE DARK, Guillermo del Toro said that his adaptation of "Nightmare Alley" won't attempt to unravel the entire novel, but will focus on embracing the darker elements instead.

Well what it is is that book was given to me in 1992 by Ron Perlman before I saw the Tyrone Power movie, and I loved the book. My adaptation that I’ve done with [co-writer] Kim Morgan is not necessarily—the entire book is impossible, it’s a saga. But there are elements that are darker in the book, and it’s the first chance I have—in my short films I wanted to do noir. It was horror and noir. And now is the first chance I have to do a real underbelly of society type of movie. [There are] no supernatural elements. Just a straight, really dark story.

The Tyrone Power film which Guillermo del Toro speaks of came out in 1947 and followed "an ambitious young con-man who hooks up with a female psychiatrist who is even more corrupt than he is. At first, they enjoy success fleecing people with their mentalist act, but then she turns the table on him, out-manipulating the manipulator." Although Guillermo del Toro's NIGHTMARE ALLEY won't be dealing with the supernatural, it will be R-rated, as Collider stated that the director scoffed at the very notion that the film would be PG-13. "[Nightmare Alley will be a] big R. Double R!" del Toro exclaimed. At the moment, NIGHTMARE ALLEY is slated to star Bradley Cooper (A STAR IS BORN) and Cate Blanchett (THOR: RAGNAROK).