‘Nightmare Alley’s Bradley Cooper, Guillermo Del Toro & J Miles Dale On Leaning Into B&W Version That Is Packing Specialty Houses & Broadening Its Run
EXCLUSIVE, SOME SPOILERS INCLUDED: The difference in stumping for awards in years past, compared to now — when a Covid encore with the catchy Omicron variant sent everyone back to their homes — is evident when Nightmare Alley star Bradley Cooper, director Guillermo del Toro and producer J. Miles Dale materialize on a Zoom call. It becomes clear they haven’t seen each other in person for awhile. “There he is, El Capitan,” Cooper says to del Toro; Dale tells Cooper they have to talk about Alvin Williams, the former Toronto Raptors player turned TV commentator who was Cooper’s high school friend back in Philadelphia. “I’m driving in, listening to the local sports radio here and [Williams] is talking about this guy Brad, his high school buddy who helped him study, and then it dawns on me he’s talking about you, and I’m like, dang.” Says del Toro: “Did they say anything about me?” And Cooper: “Or Nightmare Alley?” Dale says, “No, they cut him off after 20 minutes, when he was about to get into it. They fu*ked us,” Dale joked.