Nightmare Alley posters introduce the characters from Guillermo del Toro thriller

We got the day started by taking a look at the newly released final trailer (check it out in the embed above) for director Guillermo del Toro‘s thriller Nightmare Alley, which is set to reach theatres on December 17th, and now we’ve gotten our hands on a batch of posters that introduce the film’s characters. Scroll down to see the characters played by Bradley Cooper, Cate Blanchett, Rooney Mara, Willem Dafoe, Toni Collette, Ron Perlman, David Strathairn, Richard Jenkins, and Mary Steenburgen.

Based on a novel by William Lindsay Gresham (which was previously turned into a movie in 1947), Nightmare Alley is a noir thriller set in “a world of carnival hustlers and con men, telling the story of a mentalist who teams with a psychologist in order to swindle the rich.” Here’s the synopsis:

When charismatic but down-on-his-luck Stanton Carlisle endears himself to clairvoyant Zeena and her has-been mentalist husband Pete 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 loyally by his side, Stanton plots to con a dangerous tycoon with the aid of a mysterious psychiatrist who might be his most formidable opponent yet.

If you’re wondering how the cast and characters match up, Cooper is Stanton Carlisle, Toni Collette is Zeena, David Strathairn is Pete, Rooney Mara is Molly, Richard Jenkins is the “dangerous tycoon”, and Cate Blanchett is the “mysterious psychiatrist”.

Cast members who didn’t get a character poster include Holt McCallany, Clifton Collins Jr., Tim Blake Nelson, Jim Beaver, and David Hewlett. 

Copies of Gresham’s novel Nightmare Alley can be purchased at THIS LINK. Del Toro wrote the adaptation with Kim Morgan. The film has been rated R for “strong/bloody violence, some sexual content, nudity and language.”