Guillermo del Toro has been hard at work even during the pandemic. The filmmaker’s most recent work, Nightmare Alley, based in a carnival setting, showcases his mastery yet again.
Del Toro’s films often have a spooky yet warm feeling to them that can’t be described well in just words. One needs to experience it to understand it.
If you’re wondering where to begin, the filmmaker himself disclosed which movies serve as the perfect introduction to his stories.
While speaking to Collider, when asked which films were the best for beginners who have never watched his works, del Toro answered,
I would say that, either Shape of Water or Pan’s Labyrinth would be great primers of what I do. But now, Nightmare, if they could watch two, I would say, Pan’s and Devil’s Backbone or Shape of Water and Nightmare Alley. Those are sort of the alpha and the omega of what I do.
It’s no surprise that Pan’s Labyrinth or The Shape of Water were the first ones del Toro mentioned.
Pan’s Labyrinth solidified his mark as a storyteller. After all, it’s not often that you can scare Stephen King himself – which del Toro described as being equal to winning an Oscar.
And then there’s The Shape of Water that won him several Oscars. Besides, who wouldn’t cry at Eliza singing You’ll Never Know.
Del Toro obviously had to mention his latest release, Nightmare Alley, but it’s The Devil’s Backbone that his fans would agree to being a classic.
The director himself had called The Devil’s Backbone a “sibling” to Pan’s Labyrinth. So watching the two together would certainly give you the proper feels of what his works often encapsulate.
As for Nightmare Alley – the film is an adaptation of a 1946 novel of the same name by William Lindsay Gresham.
In the same interview, del Toro said Nightmare Alley was one of the toughest movies he’s made so far,
The movie turned out to be like riding a bull, in every sense. The movie kept asking. Every day it kept asking new questions of me, demanding complete answers in a way that no other material did, because it was tonally a really difficult movie. It was really the language I was trying, with the camera, the language I was trying with the reality of it all, was very different for me. And it was an incredibly wild ride.
Next up for del Toro is Pinocchio, which is expected for a release in the last quarter of 2022, and according to the filmmaker, it’s “a very, very, very, very personal movie.”
Pinocchio once again reunites him with actor Ron Perlman. All of the duo’s films can also be considered some of del Toro’s top works. Including titles like Cronos, Blade II, two Hellboy films, and the most recent being Nightmare Alley.
About Nightmare Alley
Nightmare Alley is an upcoming American psychological thriller film directed by Guillermo del Toro with a screenplay by del Toro and Kim Morgan, based on the 1946 novel of the same name by William Lindsay Gresham.
The cast includes Bradley Cooper, Cate Blanchett, Toni Collette, Willem Dafoe, Richard Jenkins, Rooney Mara, Ron Perlman, and David Strathairn.
It follows Stan Carlisle, an ambitious carny with a talent for manipulating people with a few well-chosen words, who hooks up with Dr. Lilith Ritter, a psychiatrist who is even more dangerous than he is.
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