Michael Shannon Joins Guillermo Del Toro's Cold War Romance

Last week, I wrote about some rumored plot details for Guillermo del Toro's new Cold War-era romance film, reportedly called The Shape of Water. Here's the only official synopsis we have thus far:

An other-worldly love story, set against the backdrop of Cold War era America circa 1963. A mysterious and magical journey from master storyteller Guillermo del Toro.

But those rumored details paint a more detailed picture. Supposedly, the story follows a mute janitor named Elisa (Sally Hawkins) who falls for an amphibious man who's being kept at the lab where she works. She tries to break him out with the help of her neighbor (probably played by Richard Jenkins), but "the world outside of the lab, however, may prove to be more dangerous for the amphibious man than Elisa could have anticipated."

Now The Wrap reports that Oscar-nominated actor Michael Shannon is in talks to join the project, though they simply say that he'd star "opposite Sally Hawkins," so it's unclear if he's playing her amphibious love interest (should that plot point prove to be true). It certainly seems like the kind of role he'd excel at — weird on the surface, but probably soulful underneath — but regardless of which character he ends up playing, I'm excited to see what Shannon does under del Toro's direction.