Cate Blanchett in talks for Guillermo del Toro's 'Nightmare Alley'

Double Oscar winner Cate Blanchett is in negotiations to star in filmmaker Guillermo del Toro's next feature, the remake of "Nightmare Alley". If things get finalised, the actor will star alongside Bradley Cooper in the film, which is del Toro's follow-up project to his Oscar-winning feature The Shape of Water. Cooper, who last featured in his directorial debut "A Star is Born", boarded the project in June. Before him, Leonardo DiCaprio was circling the project, reported Variety.

del Toro will direct the new film from a script he has co-written 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 also produce the project with J Miles Davis. The movie will be distributed by Fox Searchlight.

Blanchett, 50, is currently awaiting the release of Richard Linklater-directed "Where'd You Go Bernadette?". She is also working on the FX limited series "Mrs. America".