A new Guillermo Del Toro movie is always reason for excitement, but a Del Toro movie led by Leonardo DiCaprio? That would have our anticipation skyrocketed to a new level. Sadly, the news of DiCaprio starring in Del Toro’s remake of Nightmare Alley was short-lived, as Variety reports Bradley Cooper is in talks to take over his role.
Cooper, who is fresh off the gigantic success of A Star is Born, would keep the star power at a high for Del Toro, who is embarking on his first film since winning an Oscar for The Shape of Water. He co-wrote and will direct Nightmare Alley, based on William Lindsay Gresham’s 1946 novel and 1947 movie about a con artist at a second-rate carnival who gets fleeced by a female mentalist more corrupt than him.
According to the report, a deal with DiCaprio couldn’t be reached and now he’s free to go work with P.T. Anderson or Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu, filmmakers he passed on in Del Toro’s favor. Production on Nightmare Alley begins this fall.
