Bradley Cooper in talks to recover for Guillermo del Toro's carnival con film

Suggesting that Bradley Cooper could have officially found a new niche in the world of graying and alcohol-dependent public performers, Variety reports today that the The star is born the actor-director is in discussion to play in the film Guillermo del Toro Nightmare Alley. Adapted – as was the case for the 1947 version, starring Tyrone Power – of William Lindsay Gresham's eponymous novel, the film would trace the rise and fall of a crook with a talent for masquerading as a psychic. (So, a bit like your standard John Edward-type, but with more biting chicks' heads.)

Del Toro is trying to align a cast for the movie for a minute now; In April, we announced that the favorite fisherman of Hollywood's sexy fishermen had potentially hung Leonardo DiCaprio for the role of Stanton Carlisle, a graffiti artist with upward mobility with a pronounced taste for dangerous women and (occasionally) hen's blood . DiCaprio would have passed, but Cooper has now taken his place; he is apparently considering an offer.

The movie version and novel of Nightmare Alley are generally considered classics, using signs of sensationalism to tell a very human story about a guy's efforts to make money. This seems to be a raw material for Cooper and del Toro, who realize in addition to working on the screenplay with Kim Morgan.