Guillermo del Toro Has a Black and White Cut of NIGHTMARE ALLEY and He Hopes Fans Get To See It

Guillermo del Toro’s Nightmare Alley looks like it’s going to be a great flick and one of the main things the filmmaker wanted to do with the film is capture the essence and tone of the way movies were made back in the 1930 and 1940s. He says he wanted to make it the “modern equivalent of the movies that people complain they don’t do anymore.” There’s a great featurette that you should watch for the film if you haven’t already.

Well, the filmmaker has confirmed that he actually has a black and white cut of the film that he hopes people get to see. While talking to IndieWire, Del Toro said:

"There is a version of the movie [in black and white] which I hope can be seen. It's not a movie where you turn the color off. The movie is almost like a serigraph in black and white that then has another layer of color. If you saw the movie in black and white, it's not like you just turned the color off. It looks exactly like a movie from the 1940s in a way that is astounding."

I hope that Del Toro gets to release this cut. I’d love the opportunity to see it on the big screen! The film is an adaptation of the 1946 novel of the same name by William Lindsay Gresham, but as you might have expected, Del Toro offers a fresh take on the story. When previously talking about the movie, Del Toro said it’s filled with "a very strange, mystical allure." I also have to say that I love the setting of the film and its noir tone.

Cooper plays Stan Carlisle, "an ambitious carny with a talent for manipulating people with a few well-chosen words." He ends up hooking up with "Dr. Lilith Ritter (Cate Blanchett), a psychiatrist who is even more dangerous than he is."

The movie also stars Willem Dafoe, Rooney Mara, Toni Collette, Holt McCallany, Ron Perlman, Richard Jenkins, and David Strathairn. It comes to theaters on December 17, 2021.