Searchlight Sets Guillermo del Toro’s ‘Nightmare Alley’ for December, ‘French Dispatch’ Still Undated

Zack Sharf
·4 min read
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Searchlight Pictures has updated its 2021 release calendar, dating Guillermo del Toro’s “Nightmare Alley” for December 3. The date puts del Toro’s latest in the thick of the 2021-2022 awards season. Searchlight appears to be following the same release plan it gave del Toro’s last movie, “The Shape of Water,” which started its U.S. theatrical rollout on the first weekend of December. “The Shape of Water” debuted at the Venice Film Festival, winning the Golden Lion, and it seems likely “Nightmare Alley” will show up on the fall film festival circuit.

Del Toro’s “Nightmare Alley” is adapted by the filmmaker, and film critic Kim Morgan, from the 1946 William Lindsay Gresham novel of the same name. The ensemble cast includes Bradley Cooper, Cate Blanchett, Toni Collette, Willem Dafoe, Richard Jenkins, Ron Perlman, Rooney Mara, and David Strathairn. The film originally eyed a release in 2020, but pandemic-related production delays bumped it to 2021. IndieWire reported that del Toro wrapped production on the movie in December.

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Also set for Searchlight’s 2021-2022 awards season is Michael Showalter’s “The Eyes of Tammy Faye,” starring Jessica Chastain and Andrew Garfield. The biographical drama will debut September 24. Scott Cooper’s much-delayed horror movie “Antlers,” produced by Guillermo del Toro, will debut October 29.

One movie still not on Searchlight’s calendar is Wes Anderson’s “The French Dispatch.” The movie was named an official selection of the 2020 Cannes Film Festival and is rumored to be making its long-awaited world premiere at Cannes this year. “The French Dispatch” was bumped from a July 2020 release to an October 2020 release, before Searchlight took the movie off its release calendar indefinitely. The studio is most likely waiting for the 2021 Cannes dates to finalize before announcing a theatrical release.

Below are the new dates for Searchlight’s 2021 movies, plus cast and synopsis information (via Searchlight).

THE NIGHT HOUSE – JULY 16, 2021
Directed by: David Bruckner
Written by: Ben Collins & Luke Piotrowski
Cast: Rebecca Hall, Sarah Goldberg, Evan Jonigkeit, Stacy Martin and Vondie Curtis Hall

THE NIGHT HOUSE follows a widow (Rebecca Hall of THE TOWN) who begins to uncover her recently deceased husband’s disturbing secrets.

THE EYES OF TAMMY FAYE – SEPTEMBER 24, 2021
Directed by: Michael Showalter
Written by: Abe Sylvia
Cast: Jessica Chastain, Andrew Garfield, Cherry Jones, Fredric Lehne, Mark Wystrach, Sam Jaeger, Gabriel Olds and Vincent D’Onofrio

THE EYES OF TAMMY FAYE is an intimate look at the extraordinary rise, fall and redemption of televangelist Tammy Faye Bakker. In the 1970s and 80s, Tammy Faye and her husband, Jim Bakker, rose from humble beginnings to create the world’s largest religious broadcasting network and theme park, and were revered for their message of love, acceptance and prosperity. Tammy Faye was legendary for her indelible eyelashes, her idiosyncratic singing, and her eagerness to embrace people from all walks of life. However, it wasn’t long before financial improprieties, scheming rivals, and scandal toppled their carefully constructed empire.

ANTLERS – OCTOBER 29, 2021
Directed by: Scott Cooper
Screenplay by: C. Henry Chaisson & Nick Antosca and Scott Cooper
Cast: Keri Russell, Jesse Plemons, Jeremy T. Thomas, Graham Greene, Scott Haze, Rory Cochrane, Amy Madigan

From the visionary world of acclaimed director Scott Cooper and horror maestro Guillermo del Toro comes ANTLERS. In an isolated Oregon town, a middle-school teacher (Keri Russell) and her sheriff brother (Jesse Plemons) become embroiled with her enigmatic student (Jeremy T. Thomas) whose dark secrets lead to terrifying encounters with a legendary ancestral creature who came before them. Based on the short story The Quiet Boy by Nick Antosca. Produced by Guillermo del Toro, David S. Goyer, and J. Miles Dale.

NIGHTMARE ALLEY – DECEMBER 3, 2021
Directed by: Guillermo del Toro
Written by: Guillermo del Toro & Kim Morgan
Produced by: Guillermo del Toro, J. Miles Dale
Cast: Bradley Cooper, Cate Blanchett, Toni Collette, Willem Dafoe, Richard Jenkins, Rooney Mara, Ron Perlman, Mary Steenburgen, David Strathairn

In NIGHTMARE ALLEY, an ambitious young carny (Bradley Cooper) with a talent for manipulating people with a few well-chosen words hooks up with a female psychiatrist (Cate Blanchett) who is even more dangerous than he is.

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