Guillermo del Toro’s movies have a reputation for their visual beauty, regardless of whether they are science fiction, horror or fairy tales. His most recent film “Nightmare Alley,” a new adaptation of the 1946 William Lindsay Gresham novel of the same name, is perhaps the greatest showcase of his world-building talents so far – as attested to by in the above video by actress Toni Collette, who’s featured in the film as a carnival clairvoyant named Madame Zeena.
“Every frame blows my mind,”Collette. “It’s so exquisite and rich and so saturated. And yet so real.”
Del Toro was not the only person to take credit.Dan Laustsen. The Danish cinematographer first worked with del Toro on the Mexican director’s debut American film “Mimic (1997) and the two have since collaborated on “Crimson Peak,” “The Shape of Water,”This moody noir is now.
“Guillermo and my history is pretty long,” says Laustsen. “We have the same opinion about lighting and the way to do it.” The use of shadow in particularly striking, especially on the face of the conflicted con man Stan (Bradley Cooper), who we first meet as he is torching his family’s home. He is soon adopted into a traveling carnival, in part by Collette’s character.
“Dan and I had talked about very period lighting, keeping Stan in the shadows,”The video features del Toro. “Everything (was to) be carefully presented to make him look as powerful as a presence would in classic cinema.”
Laustsen adds, “His character is very dark and we play around with that in the lighting. Deep black shadows. One side of his face is in the light and he’s always going towards the darkness.”
The video gives del Toro a hint as to why he released the entire film. It also stars Cate Blanchett and Rooney Mara. A black-and-white version of the film was available in select Los Angeles theaters. Del Toro, Laustsen and sat down with us to discuss this version. “I kept saying, ‘Oh, my God, I wish I could do both releases,’”The director was ecstatic.
Find out more about the look and feel of “Nightmare Alley,”Includes shots of the enormous “rain spreaders” that provided a gloomy, drenched vibe for the film’s carnival scenes, check out the full video, above.