Variety is reporting that Nathan Johnson (Knives Out, Looper, Brick, Don Jon) has taken over scoring duties on the upcoming psychological thriller Nightmare Alley. He is replacing Alexandre Desplat who was previously scoring the movie. The film is directed by Guillermo del Toro and stars Bradley Cooper, Cate Blanchett, Rooney Mara, Willem Dafoe, Richard Jenkins, Toni Collette, Ron Perlman and David Strathairn. The movie is based on the 1946 novel of the same title by William Lindsay Gresham and centers on an ambitious young carny with a talent for manipulating people with a few well-chosen words as he hooks up with a female psychiatrist who is even more dangerous than he is. Del Toro also co-wrote the screenplay with Kim Morgan. The director is also producing the project with J. Miles Dale (Mama, Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark). Nightmare Alley is scheduled to be released in theaters nationwide on December 17, 2021 by Searchlight Pictures.
Desplat has also been collaborating with del Toro on the animated feature Pinocchio, which is set to premiere in 2022 on Netflix. Johnson’s recent projects include Joseph Gordon-Levitt’s Mr. Corman, which just finished its series run last week on Apple TV+.
I will miss Desplat very much, we hope Johnson is up to the task