Bradley Cooper, Cate Blanchett come together as master manipulators in first teaser of 'Nightmare Alley'

According to Variety, arriving in theatres on December 17, the movie will follow the story of Stan Carlisle (Bradley Cooper), an ambitious carny with a talent for manipulating people using a few well-chosen words. He then meets Dr Lilith Ritter (Cate Blanchett), a psychiatrist, who just might be even more dangerous than he is.

The nearly 2-minute teaser starts by showing Carlisle's arrival at a carnival, with a storm brewing up in the background, signifying what is about to ensue in the protagonists future.

After that the viewers hear a narration from Clem Hoately (Willem Dafoe), enticing a crowd to "step right up and behold one of the unexplained mysteries of the universe, "Is he man or beast?". It seems this is something said with reference to Carlisle's nature as a person.

This same question gets repeated twice more during the teaser as viewers witness snippets of Carlisle rise to success, and then the ultimate entanglement with Dr Ritter, who, as previously stated is even more dangerous than he is.

Other members of the star cast include Toni Collette as Zeena Krumbein, Richard Jenkins as Ezra Grindle, Ron Perlman as Bruno, Rooney Mara as Molly Cahill, Holt McCallany as Anderson, Tim Blake Nelson as Carny Boss, Mary Steenburgen as Miss Harrington, David Strathairn as Pete Krumbein, and Clifton Collins Jr.

Sheriff Jedediah Judd will be portrayed by Jim Beaver, Mark Povinelli will play The Major and David Hewlett will take on Dr Elrood. Romina Power and Paul Anderson also make an appearance in the film.

Based on William Lindsay Gresham's 1946 novel of the same name, 'Nightmare Alley' marks a departure for the 'Shape of Water' director, as it contains no "supernatural" elements.

Talking to a news outlet in 2019, del Toro said, "Now is the first chance I have to do a real underbelly of society type of movie. "[There are] no supernatural elements. Just a straight, really dark story." The director also confirmed that the film is very R-rated.

As per Variety, the film has been penned by del Toro and Kim Morgan, and distributed by Searchlight Pictures. J. Miles Dale has produced the movie with del Toro, whose usual collaborators Luis Sequeira and Dan Laustsen have done costume designing and cinematography, respectively. (ANI)