THE PALE BLUE EYE: Shoot Underway for Scott Cooper’s Mystery at 1830’s West Point starring Christian Bale

Scott Cooper’s Film The Pale Blue Eye Has Begun Production

Director Scott Cooper has adapted Louis Bayard‘s popular historical novel of the same name. The Pale Blue Eye marks Cooper’s third collaboration with his good friend Christian Bale.

Filming of The Pale Blue Eye began on November 29, 2021 in southwestern Pennsylvania. The filmmakers chose a vintage spot in Westmoreland County, the Compass Inn, restored by the Ligonier Valley Historical Society to its early 1800’s charm. An outside location in Slippery Rock Township has also been cited. The shoot is scheduled to continue in various areas throughout that region until its expected wrap date on February 23, 2022.

Scott Cooper and Christian Bale first partnered in 2013 with Out of the Furnace, and a second time in 2017 with Hostiles. Most recently Cooper has garnered positive attention as director in Antlers, a horror film produced by Guillermo Del Toro, and eagerly takes the reins of the vintage murder mystery.

In the past, Christian Bale made (or re-made) himself an icon as a strapping, more formidable Batman in The Dark Knight franchise. But then, Bale has never been one to go halfway in any of his projects, even bending his body to his will, losing or gaining more than a few pounds, depending on the character. But his artistry is also notable for his versatility, particularly with accents and dialects. He would be a superb channel for Augustus Landor, a retired New York City detective, forced into retirement by the demands of the labor-intensive post. Bayard’s detective is a shrewd professional hiding behind a cynical veneer of crusty civility, punctuated now and again by amusing outbursts of irritation.

The film’s title is taken from the next-to-last line of a poem in the novel (presumably by Bayard himself), and renders a pretty clear echo of Poe: “To the maid with the pale blue eye.”

Louis Bayard’s research for The Pale Blue Eye is remarkable, far beyond creating a credible protagonist in Landor. He resurrected a true historical figure in actual historical context: Edgar Poe, in fact enrolled as a cadet at West Point in 1830. (Incidentally, Poe didn’t add the middle name “Allen” until shortly after the death of his older brother, Henry, as a tribute.)

Here Cadet Poe assists the veteran detective investigating the crimes perpetrated by a serial killer on campus. This not only endangers the lives of the cadets and staff themselves, but the brittle reputation of the fledgling academy. To avoid damage to the latter by official investigation, Landor is brought in as both a first-rate homicide detective but a local as well.

But Bayard goes beyond even that. He also brings truth to power when he brings Poe into the fold. Poe’s reputation as a major author was still being formed in the pages of newspapers and police gazettes with investigative reporting. Poe later broke new ground in what would become the popular genre of detective fiction, regarded still today as classics of that kind in addition to his other, better known works.

As Edgar Poe, the 21-year-old cadet, Cooper has cast British actor Harry Melling. Best known for playing Harry’s spoiled, plump cousin Dudley in the Harry Potter franchise, puberty evidently carved out from his baby fat something closer to the lean, striking figure we recognize as Poe today. Among his most recent roles is that of a singularly poignant portrayal of the Artist “Harrison” in the acclaimed 2018 Coen Brothers’ film, The Ballad of Buster Scruggs. He also played the sympathetic chess master Harry Beltik in the award-winning limited series, The Queen’s Gambit.

Experienced producers John Lesher (Birdman, or the Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance) and Tyler Thompson (The Trial of Chicago 7, Hackshaw Ridge) join Cooper and Bale on that team.

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