Many great mystery films benefit from a second viewing, as the audience picks up on clues they missed the first time around. That’s what director Scott Cooper aims to do with his upcoming historical thriller,The Pale Blue Eye.ActorChristian Baletakes the lead role as Augustus Landor, a detective assigned to a strange murder of a West Point Cadet in the 1830s. While speaking withThe Hollywood Reporter, Bale says that he and Cooper take into account multiple viewings for every movie they’ve made together:
“We talk about that on every single film. If I like a film, I get quite obsessive, and I like to watch it again and again. And so we always talked about that. But obviously, having seen the film, you’ll know why it’s even more relevant with this picture. And definitely, we tried to find how much we can leave and what seeds we can plant to make it even more enjoyable if we are fortunate enough for somebody to watch it a second time. And it’s also about being able to discover new things within that.”
Scott Coopersays that with characters who lead multiple lives, it’s essential to cast an actor who can give a “nuanced performance,” so that’s why he chose Bale:
“In fact, with almost every take in every scene, we would discuss Christian’s performance for a first viewing and a second viewing. In a film in which nobody is who they appear to be, every character has a public life, a private life and a secret life, so you need an actor who can give you a range of nuanced performance. That way, when you’re in the cutting room and you’re putting together this tricky narrative, it gives you options. So we spoke about it literally on almost every take. Christian was that locked in to the character, and he knew how much to give and how much not to reveal, which is just a testament to his skill.”
Related:The Pale Blue Eye Trailer Teams Christian Bale’s World-Weary Detective with a Young Edgar Allen Poe
Scott Cooper Calls Edgar Allan Poe the Originator of Detective Fiction
The film is based on Louis Bayard’s novel of the same name, which is, in turn, inspired byEdgar Allan Poe’sstories written in the early 1800s. Harry Melling portrays a fictionalized version of Poe in the film, although his performance is based on Poe’s personality as closely as possible. Bale says they were “bloody lucky” to cast the rising actor:
“I think we got very bloody lucky to get Harry. He’s a phenomenal talent and a really good guy. When Scott first sent me Harry’s tape, that was it. He was hypnotizing. He was transporting himself somewhere in that audition. That’s a very tricky thing to do, and he just became the fixture in my head of who Poe was, as I read the book and the script again. He’s absolutely brilliant.”
The director hopes that Melling’s performance and the film as a whole inspire audiences to read Poe’s work, referring to the author as the father of detective, crime, and horror fiction:
“All of this originated because of Poe. He bequeathed to us detective fiction and horror fiction. And to have him at the center of this story is quite dangerous because he did create this genre… But I hope this inspires people to pick upTheTell-Tale HeartorThe Murders in the Rue Morgueor one of my favorites,The Premature Burial. They’ll begin to realize that all of the true crime that we watch, all of the detective fiction that we read, all of the crime movies and television shows that we continually gravitate towards originated with Poe. He was the progenitor of detective and crime fiction.”
The Pale Blue Eyereleases in theaters on Dec. 23 and will stream on Netflix on Jul 09, 2025. It stars Christian Bale and Harry Melling in the lead roles, with the supporting cast including Robert Duvall, Gillian Anderson, Lucy Boynton, and Toby Jones, and Charlotte Gainsbourg. Scott Cooper directed the film and wrote the screenplay.
