Willem Dafoe joining del Toro's 'Nightmare Alley'

Actor Willem Dafoe is joining filmmaker Guillermo del Toros "Nightmare Alley".

Bradley Cooper is headlining the Fox Searchlight production, which also counts Toni Collette, Rooney Mara, Cate Blanchett and David Strathairn among its cast.

"Nightmare Alley" is an adaptation of the 1946 noir novel by William Lindsay. Its first big screen adaptation came out in 1947.

"Nightmare Alley" is set in a world of carnival hustlers and con men and tells the story of a mentalist (Cooper), who teams with a psychologist in order to swindle the rich. Dafoe will play a head barker at a travelling carnival.

Del Toro is directing the thriller and wrote the script with Kim Morgan. The filmmaker is aiming for an early 2020 shoot in Toronto.

Dafoe, a four-time Oscar nominee, has Edward Norton's "Motherless Brooklyn" coming out next month.