David Strathairn joins Guillermo del Toro's 'Nightmare Alley'

Oscar-nominated actor David Strathairn has boarded the cast of Guillermo del Toro's upcoming directorial "Nightmare Alley".

According to The Hollywood Reporter, Strathairn will star as the alcoholic husband of Toni Collette's Zeena, a mentalist who ends up mentoring Bradley Cooper's Stanton Carlisle.

The movie is based on the 1946 noir novel of the same name by William Lindsay Gresham.

Del Toro will direct from a script he co-wrote with Kim Morgan.

The story follows Carlisle (Cooper), an ambitious young con-man who teams up with a female psychiatrist (Cate Blanchett) 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.

Rooney Mara is also a part of the cast.

Del Toro will also produce the project with J Miles Davis.

Production is expected to begin in early 2020 in Toronto.

Gresham's novel was previously adapted into a 1947 movie, directed by Edmund Goulding and starring Tyrone Power and Coleen Gray in the lead.