‘Carol’ Star Rooney Mara Joins Guillermo Del Toro’s ‘Nightmare Alley’

Actor by actor, Guillermo Del Toro’s Nightmare Alley is slowly coming up with one stellar cast. The newest addition to the group is Rooney Mara who is most known for her roles on Carol, The Social Network, and The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo. 

Nightmare Alley is based on the 1946 novel of the same name by William Lindsay Gresham. It tells the story of a con-man who teams up with a psychiatrist to continue his cons but soon finds the tables turned on him. Mara will be joining Carol co-star Cate Blanchett who has also been just recently cast for the film. They will be working with Bradley Cooper who is starring as the lead character Stanton “Stan” Carlisle. Though Blanchett’s role hasn’t been revealed, she’s in talks to act opposite Cooper. Other stars in the cast include Toni Collette, Ron Perlman, Richard Jenkins, and Willem Dafoe.

Nightmare Alley Film Focuses on the Darker Aspects of the Novel

Mara started out her career in independent films. Her breakthrough role was in David Fincher’s The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo in 2011. This role got her a nomination for Best Actress in both the Academy Awards and the Golden Globes. In 2017, she also went toe to toe with other huge stars such as Ryan Gosling, Natalie Portman, Blanchett, and Val Kilmer in Terrence Malick’s Song to Song. Then, in 2018, Mara starred in Don’t Worry, He Won’t Get Far On Foot with Joaquin Phoenix. The two also worked on her most recent film Mary Magdalene. In Nightmare Alley, Mara will be playing Molly who might the closest thing to Stan’s one true love according to Deadline. 

According to Del Toro in an interview with Collider, the film will not tackle the entirety of the book and instead focus on the darker elements of the narrative. When asked if it will be rated R, the director confirmed it will be nothing less. “[Nightmare Alley will be a] big R. Double R!” he said.

Nightmare Alley will be del Toro’s first directorial project after the Oscar-winning The Shape of Water in 2017. Del Toro wrote the script with Kim Morgan. He will also be producing with J. Miles Dale with TSG Entertainment. Fox Searchlight will be responsible for worldwide distribution rights. Currently, Del Toro is also developing his stop-motion project Pinocchio at Netflix. But according to Deadline, he will shoot Nightmare Alley first.