Nightmare Alley (2021)

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Wikidata Q82430214, film, IMDb tt7740496, TMDB 597208: matched by corpus:resolve, told apart by episode credits Guillermo del Toro as director (‘Nightmare Alley’ and Our Favorite Films Noir, With Patton Oswalt!); 1 more episode agrees.

The shows' “Nightmare Alley” is more than one work, told apart episode by episode: this one in 4 episodes; Nightmare Alley (1947) in 1 episode.

What a model would be handed about it, for corpus:ask.

In the store as #549, Nightmare Alley (2021).

Who talked about it

The Big Picture

Came from

What the speakers say it drew on. Each is a speaker's account: “the maker said so” when they report the maker's own words, “the host's read” when the read is theirs.

Nightmare Alley: 1 line the host's read ×1

  1. lineage (remake): Nightmare Alley ⇒ Nightmare Alley (the host's read). The 1947 film is a neutered version given 1940s moviemaking; the new one is bigger, bolder and better.
    “It's an interesting movie, a neutered version of the story, I would say, given the circumstances of movie making back in the 40s.”
    The Big Picture · ‘Nightmare Alley’ and Our Favorite Films Noir, With Patton Oswalt! · 0:03:35 · Sean Fennessey (0.95 sure it was them)

Ron Perlman: 1 line the host's read ×1

  1. lineage (origin of the project): Ron Perlman ⇒ Nightmare Alley (the host's read). Perlman reportedly put the Gresham book in Del Toro's hands in the mid 90s, so he is why the film exists.
    “he's the person, I believe, who, uh, who put the book in Del Toro's hands, I think in the mid 90s.”
    The Big Picture · ‘Nightmare Alley’ and Our Favorite Films Noir, With Patton Oswalt! · 0:39:39 · Sean Fennessey (0.80 sure it was them)

Led to

What the speakers say drew on it, marked the same way.

No line says another film or person drew on it.

Connected to

Nightmare Alley: 3 lines lineage ×1 unmapped ×1 contrast ×1

  1. unmapped (ending): Nightmare Alley → Nightmare Alley. The new film keeps the novel's bleak ending, where the Tyrone Power version tacks on a happy Hollywood one.
    “there's the perfect ending, end it right here, and then you get that tacked on Hollywood ending where things are really, really happy.”
    The Big Picture · ‘Nightmare Alley’ and Our Favorite Films Noir, With Patton Oswalt! · 0:10:12 · Patton Oswalt (0.95 sure it was them)

Sorcerer: 2 lines lineage ×1 industry ×1

  1. industry (box-office flop, future reassessment): Nightmare Alley → Sorcerer. Both bombed on release, Sorcerer under the summer of Star Wars, and Nightmare Alley will be reassessed the same way.
    “So this is going to be one of those movies that will be reassessed, I think, in the exact same way.”
    The Big Picture · ‘Nightmare Alley’ and Our Favorite Films Noir, With Patton Oswalt! · 0:38:05 · Patton Oswalt (0.70 sure it was them)

A Face in the Crowd: 1 line programming ×1

  1. programming (double feature): Nightmare Alley → A Face in the Crowd. Pairing them would nail the American sickness of the con man and his admirers.
    “this movie and a face in the crowd would be an amazing double feature for nailing exactly what's wrong.”
    The Big Picture · ‘Nightmare Alley’ and Our Favorite Films Noir, With Patton Oswalt! · 0:27:29 · Sean Fennessey (0.70 sure it was them)

All the President's Men: 1 line contrast ×1

  1. contrast (era contrast (conspiracy vs. open corruption)): All the President's Men → Nightmare Alley. Covert conspiracy thrillers feel quaint now, so low-budget horror has taken over noir's role as commentary.
    “A movie like all the president's men feel so quaint.”
    The Big Picture · ‘Nightmare Alley’ and Our Favorite Films Noir, With Patton Oswalt! · 1:05:39 · Patton Oswalt (0.90 sure it was them)

Bad Day at Black Rock: 1 line theme ×1

  1. theme (resentment theme (via Trump)): Bad Day at Black Rock → Nightmare Alley. A technicolor noir whose small-town resentment of a veteran is read as very Trump-like, echoing the Trump-as-carnival reading of the new film.
    “I mean, that is very much a Trump or movie, these, um, people that, uh, are resenting the, the Japanese guy”
    The Big Picture · ‘Nightmare Alley’ and Our Favorite Films Noir, With Patton Oswalt! · 0:57:21 · Patton Oswalt (0.85 sure it was them)

Bradley Cooper: 1 line verdict ×1

  1. verdict (verdict): Bradley Cooper → Nightmare Alley. Nightmare Alley is a great performance about a possessed gross man, little beyond.
    “it's a great performance about like a demon, like a possessed gross man and very little beyond that.”
    The Big Picture · The 10 Most Misused Stars in Hollywood and the Gnarly Magic of ‘Send Help’ · 1:34:18 · Sean Fennessey (0.50 sure it was them)

Cronos: 1 line unmapped ×1

  1. unmapped (same filmmaker, tonal kin): Nightmare Alley → Cronos. Cronos is the only earlier Del Toro film where there is no way out.
    “this is really the 1st Del Toro, except maybe Kronos, where he started where there is no way out.”
    The Big Picture · ‘Nightmare Alley’ and Our Favorite Films Noir, With Patton Oswalt! · 0:12:01 · Patton Oswalt (0.85 sure it was them)

Goodfellas: 1 line contrast ×1

  1. contrast (pacing contrast): Nightmare Alley → Goodfellas. Goodfellas is propulsive because its hero builds an empire; Nightmare Alley needs the slow seductive absorption that kills Carlisle.
    “unlike a movie like Goodfellas, which is the definition of propulsive”
    The Big Picture · ‘Nightmare Alley’ and Our Favorite Films Noir, With Patton Oswalt! · 0:33:54 · Patton Oswalt (0.85 sure it was them)

Kim Morgan: 1 line people ×1

  1. people (writer's worldview): Kim Morgan → Nightmare Alley. Morgan, a leading writer on classic noir, made this a dream project and the film realizes her worldview.
    “It's such a realization of Kim's worldview, um, and then, of course, meeting the vision of Guillermo del Toro.”
    The Big Picture · ‘Nightmare Alley’ and Our Favorite Films Noir, With Patton Oswalt! · 0:13:26 · Patton Oswalt (0.90 sure it was them)

Pan's Labyrinth: 1 line contrast ×1

  1. contrast (tonal opposite): Nightmare Alley → Pan's Labyrinth. In Del Toro's other films a pure and hopeful heart defangs the monsters; the protagonist here has no such heart.
    “if you butt up against them with, I think, more pure and hopeful heart, they aren't monsters anymore.”
    The Big Picture · ‘Nightmare Alley’ and Our Favorite Films Noir, With Patton Oswalt! · 0:12:27 · Patton Oswalt (0.90 sure it was them)

Ron Perlman: 1 line lineage ×1

  1. lineage (origin of the project): Ron Perlman → Nightmare Alley. Perlman reportedly put the Gresham book in Del Toro's hands in the mid 90s, so he is why the film exists.
    “he's the person, I believe, who, uh, who put the book in Del Toro's hands, I think in the mid 90s.”
    The Big Picture · ‘Nightmare Alley’ and Our Favorite Films Noir, With Patton Oswalt! · 0:39:39 · Sean Fennessey (0.80 sure it was them)

The Shape of Water: 1 line contrast ×1

  1. contrast (same filmmaker, tonal opposite): Nightmare Alley → The Shape of Water. Both are Del Toro and Kim Morgan scripts, but this one has no way out where the earlier films stay hopeful.
    “Yeah, they're often pretty hopeful and they often look on the bright side, ultimately, and they often feature children kind of emerging from traumatic circumstances.”
    The Big Picture · ‘Nightmare Alley’ and Our Favorite Films Noir, With Patton Oswalt! · 0:11:45 · Sean Fennessey (0.80 sure it was them)

Where it came up

What was said about it, by kind

contrast (5)

  1. contrast (visual contrast): Nightmare Alley → Nightmare Alley. The 1947 film has great chiaroscuro photography but does not show how enticing a carnival is the way Del Toro does.
    “He's able to show you Del Toro is able to show you how enticing, um, a carnival is, no matter how evil”
    The Big Picture · ‘Nightmare Alley’ and Our Favorite Films Noir, With Patton Oswalt! · 0:11:05 · Patton Oswalt (0.90 sure it was them)
  2. contrast (same filmmaker, tonal opposite): Nightmare Alley → The Shape of Water. Both are Del Toro and Kim Morgan scripts, but this one has no way out where the earlier films stay hopeful.
    “Yeah, they're often pretty hopeful and they often look on the bright side, ultimately, and they often feature children kind of emerging from traumatic circumstances.”
    The Big Picture · ‘Nightmare Alley’ and Our Favorite Films Noir, With Patton Oswalt! · 0:11:45 · Sean Fennessey (0.80 sure it was them)
  3. contrast (tonal opposite): Nightmare Alley → Pan's Labyrinth. In Del Toro's other films a pure and hopeful heart defangs the monsters; the protagonist here has no such heart.
    “if you butt up against them with, I think, more pure and hopeful heart, they aren't monsters anymore.”
    The Big Picture · ‘Nightmare Alley’ and Our Favorite Films Noir, With Patton Oswalt! · 0:12:27 · Patton Oswalt (0.90 sure it was them)
  4. contrast (pacing contrast): Nightmare Alley → Goodfellas. Goodfellas is propulsive because its hero builds an empire; Nightmare Alley needs the slow seductive absorption that kills Carlisle.
    “unlike a movie like Goodfellas, which is the definition of propulsive”
    The Big Picture · ‘Nightmare Alley’ and Our Favorite Films Noir, With Patton Oswalt! · 0:33:54 · Patton Oswalt (0.85 sure it was them)
  5. contrast (era contrast (conspiracy vs. open corruption)): All the President's Men → Nightmare Alley. Covert conspiracy thrillers feel quaint now, so low-budget horror has taken over noir's role as commentary.
    “A movie like all the president's men feel so quaint.”
    The Big Picture · ‘Nightmare Alley’ and Our Favorite Films Noir, With Patton Oswalt! · 1:05:39 · Patton Oswalt (0.90 sure it was them)

industry (1)

  1. industry (box-office flop, future reassessment): Nightmare Alley → Sorcerer. Both bombed on release, Sorcerer under the summer of Star Wars, and Nightmare Alley will be reassessed the same way.
    “So this is going to be one of those movies that will be reassessed, I think, in the exact same way.”
    The Big Picture · ‘Nightmare Alley’ and Our Favorite Films Noir, With Patton Oswalt! · 0:38:05 · Patton Oswalt (0.70 sure it was them)

lineage (3)

  1. lineage (remake): Nightmare Alley → Nightmare Alley. The 1947 film is a neutered version given 1940s moviemaking; the new one is bigger, bolder and better.
    “It's an interesting movie, a neutered version of the story, I would say, given the circumstances of movie making back in the 40s.”
    The Big Picture · ‘Nightmare Alley’ and Our Favorite Films Noir, With Patton Oswalt! · 0:03:35 · Sean Fennessey (0.95 sure it was them)
  2. lineage (remake of a 40s/50s film): Sorcerer → Nightmare Alley. Both are remakes of films from earlier decades.
    “Also a remake of a film from the 40s and 50s.”
    The Big Picture · ‘Nightmare Alley’ and Our Favorite Films Noir, With Patton Oswalt! · 0:38:01 · Sean Fennessey (0.60 sure it was them)
  3. lineage (origin of the project): Ron Perlman → Nightmare Alley. Perlman reportedly put the Gresham book in Del Toro's hands in the mid 90s, so he is why the film exists.
    “he's the person, I believe, who, uh, who put the book in Del Toro's hands, I think in the mid 90s.”
    The Big Picture · ‘Nightmare Alley’ and Our Favorite Films Noir, With Patton Oswalt! · 0:39:39 · Sean Fennessey (0.80 sure it was them)

people (1)

  1. people (writer's worldview): Kim Morgan → Nightmare Alley. Morgan, a leading writer on classic noir, made this a dream project and the film realizes her worldview.
    “It's such a realization of Kim's worldview, um, and then, of course, meeting the vision of Guillermo del Toro.”
    The Big Picture · ‘Nightmare Alley’ and Our Favorite Films Noir, With Patton Oswalt! · 0:13:26 · Patton Oswalt (0.90 sure it was them)

programming (1)

  1. programming (double feature): Nightmare Alley → A Face in the Crowd. Pairing them would nail the American sickness of the con man and his admirers.
    “this movie and a face in the crowd would be an amazing double feature for nailing exactly what's wrong.”
    The Big Picture · ‘Nightmare Alley’ and Our Favorite Films Noir, With Patton Oswalt! · 0:27:29 · Sean Fennessey (0.70 sure it was them)

theme (1)

  1. theme (resentment theme (via Trump)): Bad Day at Black Rock → Nightmare Alley. A technicolor noir whose small-town resentment of a veteran is read as very Trump-like, echoing the Trump-as-carnival reading of the new film.
    “I mean, that is very much a Trump or movie, these, um, people that, uh, are resenting the, the Japanese guy”
    The Big Picture · ‘Nightmare Alley’ and Our Favorite Films Noir, With Patton Oswalt! · 0:57:21 · Patton Oswalt (0.85 sure it was them)

unmapped (3)

  1. unmapped (ending): Nightmare Alley → Nightmare Alley. The new film keeps the novel's bleak ending, where the Tyrone Power version tacks on a happy Hollywood one.
    “there's the perfect ending, end it right here, and then you get that tacked on Hollywood ending where things are really, really happy.”
    The Big Picture · ‘Nightmare Alley’ and Our Favorite Films Noir, With Patton Oswalt! · 0:10:12 · Patton Oswalt (0.95 sure it was them)
  2. unmapped (same filmmaker, tonal kin): Nightmare Alley → Cronos. Cronos is the only earlier Del Toro film where there is no way out.
    “this is really the 1st Del Toro, except maybe Kronos, where he started where there is no way out.”
    The Big Picture · ‘Nightmare Alley’ and Our Favorite Films Noir, With Patton Oswalt! · 0:12:01 · Patton Oswalt (0.85 sure it was them)
  3. unmapped (noir definition): Nightmare Alley → Nightmare Alley. Patton doubts it is a true noir because the carnival is honest about its ugliness; the corrupt veneer lives in the penthouses.
    “I don't really know that this is a true noir only because the world of this movie doesn't pretend like it's anything”
    The Big Picture · ‘Nightmare Alley’ and Our Favorite Films Noir, With Patton Oswalt! · 0:41:41 · Patton Oswalt (0.95 sure it was them)

verdict (1)

  1. verdict (verdict): Bradley Cooper → Nightmare Alley. Nightmare Alley is a great performance about a possessed gross man, little beyond.
    “it's a great performance about like a demon, like a possessed gross man and very little beyond that.”
    The Big Picture · The 10 Most Misused Stars in Hollywood and the Gnarly Magic of ‘Send Help’ · 1:34:18 · Sean Fennessey (0.50 sure it was them)

Fun items about it

  1. fun, about Nightmare Alley: Host watched it four times; first lukewarm, a soft-focused noir, he came around.
    “And then I watched this movie a 4th time.”
    The Big Picture · ‘Nightmare Alley’ and Our Favorite Films Noir, With Patton Oswalt! · 0:03:01 · Sean Fennessey (0.95 sure it was them)
  2. fun, about Nightmare Alley: Leonardo DiCaprio was originally supposed to star; rumored to have passed over the dark ending and irredeemable lead.
    “this was originally supposed to be Leonardo DiCaprio.”
    The Big Picture · ‘Nightmare Alley’ and Our Favorite Films Noir, With Patton Oswalt! · 0:36:51 · Sean Fennessey (0.90 sure it was them)
  3. fun, about Nightmare Alley: Patton reads Carlisle's carnival origin as like Trump rallies: a traveling apparatus that sets up and leaves.
    “he was called a carnival barker many, many times during his administration and he embraced it.”
    The Big Picture · ‘Nightmare Alley’ and Our Favorite Films Noir, With Patton Oswalt! · 0:45:30 · Sean Fennessey (0.80 sure it was them)

Who the speakers said made it

As said on the shows, not checked against the real credits.