As expected due to the coronavirus pandemic, Bleecker Street’s “Dream Horse”, which was supposed to release theaters on April 17, has been moved to a September 04, 2020 release date in the United Kingdom. Guillermo del Toro’s “Nightmare Alley” has also suspended production indefinitely. The decision was made on behalf of Disney, which is putting a hold on nearly all of its live-action productions at the moment, including 20th Century and Searchlight projects. Del Toro’s “Nightmare Alley” is adapted by the filmmaker and film critic Kim Morgan from the 1946 William Lindsay Gresham novel of the same name. The project is Del Toro’s first since “The Shape of Water,” which took home top Oscars for Best Picture and Best Director. The ensemble cast includes Bradley Cooper, Cate Blanchett, Toni Collette, Willem Dafoe, Richard Jenkins, Ron Perlman, Rooney Mara, and David Strathairn. Del Toro kicked off production at the end of January and had been shooting the film in Toronto. “Nightmare Alley” casts Cooper as an ambitious carnival worker with a talent for manipulating people with his words. Cooper’s character uses his gift to carry out con jobs, but his life is thrown into disarray after he falls for a mysterious psychiatrist (Blanchett) who proves far more dangerous than he could ever image. The carnival cast includes carnival worker Molly (Mara), head barker Clem (Willem Dafoe), and del Toro’s “Hellboy” actor Perlman as Bruno the Strongman. Jenkins, an Oscar nominee for “Shape of Water,” stars in the part of the high society crowd as wealthy industrialist Ezra Grindle.” Disney and Searchlight never assigned a release date for “Nightmare Alley,” but many were hoping the movie would turn up on the fall festival circuit and be ready for the upcoming awards season. Those release wishes are now in jeopardy now that production is on hold indefinitely.
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December 18th, 2017
December 3rd, 2018
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