The first trailer for Guillermo Del Toro’s next film Nightmare Alley has been released, starring Bradley Cooper and Cate Blanchett.

Based on the 1946 novel of the same name by William Lindsay Gresham, Nightmare Alley is a psychological thriller which follows Stanton Carlisle (Bradley Cooper), an ambitious carnival worker with a talent for manipulating people. He hooks up with psychiatrist Dr Lilith Ritter (Cate Blanchett), who is described as “even more dangerous than he is”.

The film boasts a star-studded cast, with Cooper and Blanchett joined by Toni Colette, Willem Dafoe, Richard Jenkins, Rooney Mara, Ron Perlman, David Straithairn, and Holt McCallany.

Nightmare Alley is Del Toro’s first film since 2017’s The Shape Of Water, which earned critical acclaim and won Oscars for Best Picture, Best Director, Best Production Design and Best Original Score.

The film has suffered numerous setbacks throughout production – with shooting delayed in September 2019 to accommodate Cooper’s schedule. Del Toro later shut down production in March 2020 due to concerns around the COVID-19 pandemic.

Speaking with IndieWire, Cooper said: “We have been making Nightmare Alley for the last two and a half years. It was a unique experience, going through the pandemic, taking six months off and revisiting it.

“We not only became lifelong friends, but it was an artistic experience.”

This is the second film adaptation of Nightmare Alley, following a version in 1947 starring Tyrone Power.

Nightmare Alley is scheduled to be released December 17 in cinemas.