The stars are aligned for Guillermo del Toro’s “Nightmare Alley,” his adaptation of William Lindsay Gresham’s 1946 noir novel that was quickly turned into a 1947 movie starring Tyrone Power. As GoldDerby writes, The Searchlight movie, out December 17 in theaters only, is among the top early contenders for Best Picture and Best Director according to the Gold Derby odds. “Is he man or beast?” Dafoe’s character, who oversees the fringe carnival where Cooper’s Stanton Carlise initially works, intones twice in the teaser – before and after images of tension, fright and oddity flash across the screen. But Stanton isn’t a werewolf, so much as anti-hero whose soul is corrupted by his decisions. “The carnival is almost like a microcosm of the world,” del Toro told Vanity Fair. “Everybody’s there to swindle everybody. But at the same time in the carnival, the [workers] know they need each other. In the city, much less so.”

Vanity Fair’s Awards Insider! has an in-depth look at Guillermo del Toro’s upcoming “Nightmare Alley”, including a short character profile of Toni Collette’s character and lots of pictures from the cast, including Bradley Cooper, Cate Blanchett, Rooney Mara and Willem Dafoe. Deception is at the core of Guillermo del Toro’s new thriller Nightmare Alley, but the Oscar-winning filmmaker actually wants to be completely honest with audiences: This movie is not what you might think it is. The ominous title, combined with the del Toro’s long history of bringing ghosts, ghouls, and twisted creatures to the screen in films from Cronos to The Shape of Water, may lead to the mistaken assumption that it’s another otherworldly tale. Nightmare Alley is actually his take on classic film noir, marking a stark shift for the filmmaker. But he knows the false impression might stick. “That is a distinct possibility,” del Toro tells Vanity Fair. “It has happened to me in the past with Crimson Peak, where people went in expecting a horror movie. I knew it was a gothic romance but it was very difficult to put that across. But yes, this has no supernatural element. It’s based completely in a reality world. There is nothing fantastic. It’s a very different movie from my usual, but yes, the title and my name would create that [impression].”

The tool Stanton uses to pry his way into a high-paying nightclub act is a subtle verbal code developed by tarot reader Zeena (Toni Collette) and her drunkard husband Pete (David Strathairn) that allows her to stand onstage and pretend to psychically intuit things audience members have written and given to him in the stands. The code—based on sounds and inflections made by the operative in the audience as he gathers the questions—is a valuable piece of intellectual property, and Stanton has no problem stealing it.

Nightmare Alley will open in theaters this December from Searchlight Pictures.

Even more production stills from Toni’s earlier films have been added to the photo gallery, featuring some wonderful unseen pictures from “Cosi”, “The Pallbearer”, “Hotel Splendide” and “About a Boy”. Enjoy.

While there’s not much happening right now – at least not regarding Toni’s work and our anticipation towards a first look at Guillermo Del Toro’s “Nightmare Alley”, I went through my archives to add some missing production stills to the photo gallery. The new additions range from the wonderful 1996 Australian independent film “Lilian’s Story” to the most recent “Dream Horse” (if you’ve ever fancied seeing a picture of Toni Collette in a bathtub on the hills of Wales, this is your day :-) For a complete list of new additions, have a look at the list below. Enjoy.

“Dream Horse” is among the first films to receive a theatrical release as cinemas around the world are opening again. Accompanying its theatrical run in, “Dream Horse” will premiere on Amazon Prime the United Kingdom from September 17. A bunch of reviews and news coverage have been added to the photo gallery, including a nice cover story from the Austrlian Telegraph’s Stellar Magazine. Enjoy the new additions.

According to Variety, Parker Posey will star alongside Colin Firth, Toni Collette, Juliette Binoche and Rosemarie DeWitt in the HBO Max limited series “The Staircase.” The eight-parter is based on the docuseries of the same name and various books and reports on the Michael Peterson (Firth) case. Peterson was accused of murdering his wife, Kathleen (Collette), in 2001. He claimed she died after falling down the stairs at their home after consuming alcohol and Valium, but police suspected he bludgeoned her to death and staged the scene to look like an accident. An autopsy revealed that Kathleen died from blows to the back of her head with a blunt object and other injuries. The docuseries was originally released in 2004, with creator Jean-Xavier de Lestrade updating with new information years later. Netflix released it as a 13-episode series in 2018. Posey will play Freda Black, an assistant district attorney and prosecutor – which might be one of the juciest part of the series, in case you have seen the documentary. DeWitt will play Peterson’s sister, Candace Zamperini. Details about Binoche’s character have yet to be revealed.