Nightmare Alley (Guillermo del Toro, 2021)

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Murdoch
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Re: Nightmare Alley (Guillermo del Toro, 2020)

#2 Post by Murdoch » Wed Sep 04, 2019 5:00 pm

I haven't enjoyed anything del Toro has made in over a decade (although the production design of Crimson Peak was nice), so I don't have much faith in him adapting this. And Bradley Cooper is no Tyrone Power.

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domino harvey
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Re: Nightmare Alley (Guillermo del Toro, 2020)

#3 Post by domino harvey » Wed Sep 04, 2019 5:02 pm

DiCaprio seemed like a better fit when this was first announced

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whaleallright
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Re: Nightmare Alley (Guillermo del Toro, 2020)

#4 Post by whaleallright » Fri Sep 06, 2019 12:45 am

Del Toro's talents and sensibilities would seem ill-suited to this story. He doesn't have a truly nasty bone in his body, and this is a heckuva nasty book.

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Big Ben
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Re: Nightmare Alley (Guillermo del Toro, 2020)

#5 Post by Big Ben » Fri Sep 06, 2019 1:09 am

whaleallright wrote:
Fri Sep 06, 2019 12:45 am
Del Toro's talents and sensibilities would seem ill-suited to this story. He doesn't have a truly nasty bone in his body, and this is a heckuva nasty book.
I very much agree with this and del Toro's statements about it's rating (He said something to the effect that it will be double 'R' or something.) makes me wonder just what he's planning on doing with this. I'm not all that familiar with the story but it cannot be that bad can it?

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domino harvey
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Re: Nightmare Alley (Guillermo del Toro, 2020)

#6 Post by domino harvey » Fri Sep 06, 2019 1:43 am

I mean, it ends with our protagonist reduced into
SpoilerShow
being a geek in a carnival freak show, biting apart live animals
So, actually, I don't understand claims that GDT isn't a good fit, because doesn't that sound exactly like the kind of ending that would occur in one of his films?

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The Narrator Returns
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Re: Nightmare Alley (Guillermo del Toro, 2020)

#7 Post by The Narrator Returns » Fri Sep 06, 2019 2:26 am

It's worth pointing out that Del Toro's cowriter on this is Kim Morgan, which is the bulk of my excitement for this.

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Reverend Drewcifer
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Re: Nightmare Alley (Guillermo del Toro, 2020)

#8 Post by Reverend Drewcifer » Fri Sep 06, 2019 12:05 pm

Can someone explain the hoopla over Kim Morgan?

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domino harvey
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Re: Nightmare Alley (Guillermo del Toro, 2020)

#9 Post by domino harvey » Fri Sep 06, 2019 12:46 pm

Up until like ten seconds ago I thought he’d co-written this with Kim Newman, which sounded awesome

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Luke M
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Re: Nightmare Alley (Guillermo del Toro, 2020)

#10 Post by Luke M » Fri Sep 06, 2019 10:12 pm

Would it be too awful to get a little bit of Carter Burwell's Carol score when Blanchett and Mara appear on screen together?

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MichaelB
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Re: Nightmare Alley (Guillermo del Toro, 2020)

#11 Post by MichaelB » Sat Sep 07, 2019 5:54 am

Big Ben wrote:
Fri Sep 06, 2019 1:09 am
I very much agree with this and del Toro's statements about it's rating (He said something to the effect that it will be double 'R' or something.) makes me wonder just what he's planning on doing with this. I'm not all that familiar with the story but it cannot be that bad can it?
Put it like this: the fact that the 1947 film is so impressive even though they had to bowdlerise the book almost beyond recognition is one of its greatest achievements. A major supporting character was excised altogether, presumably because there was no way of portraying him without returning to pre-Code Freaks territory, and of course all the sometimes pretty graphic sexual material bit the dust too.

For instance, in the 1947 film, Stan Carlisle tries to swindle the wealthy Ezra Grindle by bringing his long-dead fiancée back to life (played by his associate Molly), a plan that goes awry when Molly gets a pang of conscience and reveals all. However, in the novel, the fraud is exposed when
SpoilerShow
Grindle sexually gropes Molly, and she reacts as you might expect.
In the commentary on Signal One's still forthcoming BD of the 1947 film, Johnny Mains and I draw quite a few comparisons between scenes in the film and equivalents in the book.

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FrauBlucher
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Re: Nightmare Alley (Guillermo del Toro, 2020)

#12 Post by FrauBlucher » Sat Sep 07, 2019 9:16 am

Just because he himself doesn’t have a nasty bone in his body doesn’t mean he can’t create or portray a story that has nasty and ugly overtones. That is one of the more sillier suggestions. Look through out his films and you’ll find awful, nasty characters and events. Anyway, I for one will be looking forward to this because Del Toro is one of those filmmakers that very much values the history and tradition of filmmaking.

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MichaelB
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Re: Nightmare Alley (Guillermo del Toro, 2020)

#13 Post by MichaelB » Sat Sep 07, 2019 9:37 am

I think there's a huge amount of scope for a more faithful adaptation of the novel, but it absolutely needs someone with Del Toro's poetic sensibility, as it could easily fall into the trap of crudely sensationalised exploitation.

I also think Bradley Cooper may be a more interesting casting choice than Leonardo DiCaprio, if only because Cooper naturally looks more like a dapper, ultra-slick con man.

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Mr Sausage
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Re: Nightmare Alley (Guillermo del Toro, 2020)

#14 Post by Mr Sausage » Sat Sep 07, 2019 9:58 am

FrauBlucher wrote:
Sat Sep 07, 2019 9:16 am
Just because he himself doesn’t have a nasty bone in his body doesn’t mean he can’t create or portray a story that has nasty and ugly overtones. That is one of the more sillier suggestions. Look through out his films and you’ll find awful, nasty characters and events. Anyway, I for one will be looking forward to this because Del Toro is one of those filmmakers that very much values the history and tradition of filmmaking.
Oh, Del Toro is a big softy. There are plenty of nasty moments and characters in his films, but even the grimmest of his films are suffused with a fairy-tale hopefulness and a belief in big positive emotions like love, hope, faith, and the saving power of the imagination.

An acidic story like this is an unlikely project for him, to judge by his previous films. But you're right, there's no reason he can't do it. I've never been a del Toro fan, but I thought his last was easily his best and the closest he's come to making something great, so I'm hopeful. Like you say, he's a traditionalist and likely to reproduce the appropriate style and atmosphere of a noir.

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FigrinDan
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Re: Nightmare Alley (Guillermo del Toro, 2020)

#15 Post by FigrinDan » Fri Sep 13, 2019 8:39 pm

Toni Collette joins the cast with Michael Shannon and Richard Jenkins "circling".

THR

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domino harvey
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Re: Nightmare Alley (Guillermo del Toro, 2020)

#16 Post by domino harvey » Wed Oct 16, 2019 10:45 am

Willem Dafoe has joined in the role intended for Shannon, as the carnival barker— sounds like perfect casting to me

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MichaelB
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Re: Nightmare Alley (Guillermo del Toro, 2020)

#17 Post by MichaelB » Wed Oct 16, 2019 11:00 am

Absolutely - I can easily see that. In fact, Dafoe would be perfect casting in quite a few roles.

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domino harvey
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Re: Nightmare Alley (Guillermo del Toro, 2020)

#18 Post by domino harvey » Fri Jan 31, 2020 5:30 pm

Set pics lookin’ very Carol

Image

Image

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Monterey Jack
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Re: Nightmare Alley (Guillermo del Toro, 2020)

#19 Post by Monterey Jack » Sat Feb 01, 2020 3:54 pm

Obviously setting up the Carol Cinematic Universe (CCU).

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therewillbeblus
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Re: Nightmare Alley (Guillermo del Toro, 2020)

#20 Post by therewillbeblus » Wed Sep 15, 2021 7:57 pm

Image

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senseabove
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Re: Nightmare Alley (Guillermo del Toro, 2020)

#21 Post by senseabove » Wed Sep 15, 2021 8:06 pm

And some laugh-to-keep-from-crying bad film history from the Vanity Fair article where that image came was published:
Image

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DarkImbecile
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Re: Nightmare Alley (Guillermo del Toro, 2021)

#22 Post by DarkImbecile » Thu Sep 16, 2021 6:48 pm


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domino harvey
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Re: Nightmare Alley (Guillermo del Toro, 2021)

#23 Post by domino harvey » Thu Sep 16, 2021 7:57 pm

Gross, why is he bringing back that early 00s diffused look to the cinematography

RIP Film
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Re: Nightmare Alley (Guillermo del Toro, 2021)

#24 Post by RIP Film » Thu Sep 16, 2021 9:57 pm

The Road to Perdition, peak late Spielberg look? Would guess it’s a callback to an earlier well-established Hollywood look, without going back too far. Seems very aware of itself as a movie; for a story about artifice it makes a kind of sense.

black&huge
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Re: Nightmare Alley (Guillermo del Toro, 2021)

#25 Post by black&huge » Thu Sep 16, 2021 11:10 pm

domino harvey wrote:
Thu Sep 16, 2021 7:57 pm
Gross, why is he bringing back that early 00s diffused look to the cinematography
it just looks like the new Matrix movie: shiny and dumb.

But the actual content looks fantastic. Willem Dafoe sounds just like Michael Rooker to me did anybody else think so? I also had no idea David Straithairn was still alive.

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