Dafoe joins Cooper, Collette, Blanchett, and Mara in Nightmare Alley

Last Updated on July 30, 2021

A couple months ago, Collider's Jeff Sneider heard that Willem Dafoe was up for a role in Guillermo del Toro's new film NIGHTMARE ALLEY, and now Variety has confirmed that Dafoe has officially signed on to co-star in the film.

Dafoe joins a cast that includes Bradley Cooper, Toni Collette, Cate Blanchett, and Rooney Mara. So this is going to be quite an impressive, star-studded affair.

Based on a novel by William Lindsay Gresham (which was previously turned into a movie back in 1947), NIGHTMARE ALLEY is a noir thriller set 

in a world of carnival hustlers and con men, telling the story of a mentalist (Cooper) who teams with a psychologist in order to swindle the rich.

Blanchett is believed to be playing the psychologist, with Collette playing "a mentalist named Zeena who mentors the protagonist" and Mara playing Cooper's love interest.

Dafoe's character is "the head barker at a traveling carnival who gives Bradley Cooper's character a job, ushering him into a world of show biz and grifting."

Sneider was informed about the involvement of other actors who still haven't been confirmed as being part of the film's cast: Richard Jenkins and Michael Shannon, reuniting with del Toro after working with him on THE SHAPE OF WATER, and of course del Toro regular Ron Perlman. Perlman was said to be up for the role of the carnival's strongman.

Written by del Toro and Kim Morgan, NIGHTMARE ALLEY is aiming to start filming in early 2020.