Most big actors have those filmmakers they love to collaborate with. While Christian Bale has become a regular for many including Christopher Nolan and David O. Russell, one filmmaker he seems to have consistently worked with recently is filmmaker Scott Cooper. Particularly because Cooper's unforgiving narrative style covers dark subject with little remorse for his subjects. A sort of unrestrained form of artistic expression that Bale himself is often known for in the way he invests in his performances. Following starring in the Cooper's past films Out of the Furnace (2013) and Hostiles (2017), Bale has reunited with him for the upcoming gothic horror mystery film The Pale Blue Eye, based on the 2006 novel of the same name written by Louis Bayard with Cooper having adapted the screenplay himself. Much like Hostiles, it is a story that weaves an historical setting (and character) with a fascinating fictional premise.
Set in 1830 at the United States Military Academy in West Point, New York, a series of murders occur that become investigated by veteran detective Augustus Landor (Bale) investigates a series of murders . He is aided by a young cadet at the academy...Edgar Allen Poe (Harry Welling). As the trailer shows, these two will face a brutal mystery, cadets bound by a code of silence, and a killer running amok in the shadows. Check it out below:
It is a fact that Poe was a failed officer cadet at West Point (having been pushed to do so by his guardian John Allan) before declaring a firm wish to be a poet and writer. It is believed that Poe's experiences in the military were the foundation for his 1841 short story The Murders in the Rue Morgue which is often credited as the first modern detective story when it introduced the world to detective C. Auguste Dupin (notably sharing a surname similar to Bale's character in the movie). As the first fictional detective that solved the mystery by analyzing the facts of the case, Poe's Dupin displays many traits that would set the mold for subsequent fictional detectives, including Sherlock Holmes and Hercule Poirot. These traits included Dupin being a brilliant detective, his personal friend serving as narrator of the story, and the final revelation being presented before the reasoning that leads up to it.
All this is to say that the The Pale Blue Eye is woven with so many fascinating true elements that combined with Cooper's visceral style and Bale's committed acting, the film looks to be a potential standout in it's own right as well. Netflix seems to think so as the film is scheduled to be released in select theaters on December 23 of this year to qualify for the Oscars before its released on the streaming service on on January 6th. We'll have to wait, investigate, and come to that conclusion on our own.
The Pale Blue Eye co-stars Gillian Anderson, Lucy Boynton, Charlotte Gainsbourg, Toby Jones, Harry Lawtey, Simon McBurney, Timothy Spall, and Robert Duvall.
This guy was good in Buster Scruggs
Great actor, poor choice of movie roles in the last years