Bradley Cooper in talks to star in Del Toro's 'Nightmare Alley'

Actor Bradley Cooper is in negotiations to headline filmmaker Guillermo del Toro's next feature, the remake of "Nightmare Alley".

According to Variety, actor Leonardo DiCaprio was previously circling the project but has since passed it.

Sources told the outlet that Cooper, who most recently directed and acted in Academy Award nominated film "A Star is Born", has received an offer for the project. It is not yet known whether he has struck a deal for it.

The new film will be del Toro's first time directing a feature since his Oscar win for 2017's "The Shape of Water".

The filmmaker will direct the new film from a script he will write with Kim Morgan. The movie is based on the 1946 novel of the same name by William Lindsay Gresham.

The story follows Stanton Carlisle, an ambitious young con-man who teams up with a female psychiatrist who is even more corrupt than he is.

At first, they enjoy success fleecing people with their mentalist act, but then she turns the tables on him, out-manipulating the manipulator.

Gresham's novel previously adapted into a 1947 movie starring Tyrone Power.

Del Toro will co-produce the project with J Miles Davis, and TSG Entertainment and will be distributed by Fox Searchlight.

Production stars later this year, after the cast is finalised.