Cate Blanchett is set to star in Guillermo del Toro's 'Nightmare Alley'.

Cate Blanchett

Cate Blanchett

The 50-year-old actress is reportedly set to star alongside Bradley Cooper in the adaptation of William Lindsay Gresham's 1947 novel of the same name, in which the acclaimed filmmaker will take a step back from directing and will instead produce.

'Nightmare Alley' follows Stanton 'Stan' Carlisle, a man who joins a travelling carnival where he attempts to learn the ways of mind-reading act of Mademoiselle Zeena and her alcoholic husband, Pete.

Following Pete's death, Zeena takes on Pete as a stage-partner where he proves more successful than her late husband and soon graduates to full-blown spiritualist, catering to the needs of the rich and gullible in their well-upholstered homes.

According to the book's official synopsis, the story is a "dark jewel, a classic American tale about the varieties of deception and self-deception and the dream of redemption - a dream that is only a nightmare in disguise".

According to Collider, Toni Collette, Richard Jenkins, Willem Dafoe, Mark Povinelli, Rooney Mara and Guillermo's friend and frequent collaborator Ron Perlman are all in various stages of making deals to appear in the film which is due to start shooting next year.

Guillermo's next project is the big screen adaptation of Alvin Schwartz's collection of short horror stories 'Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark' and the director previously insisted he was keen to take on the challenge as soon as production company CBS Films approached him as he is such a big fan of the book.

'The Shape of Water' filmmaker - who is acting as producer on the project - said: "When CBS Films approached me about doing this movie, I was really excited. They'd done two screenplays before, but I said, 'Let's start from scratch.'

"I have this idea that's very relevant to today. It's an interesting way to see how stories shape who we are; about how once you release a story, you can't get it back."

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