Christian Bale and Harry Melling in The Pale Blue Eye


ComingSoon Editor-in-Chief Tyler Treese talks The Pale Blue Eyes stars Christian Bale and Harry Melling in Netflix’s new gothic mystery film, now streaming. The duo discussed the period pieces and filming the pivotal final scene.

“A world-weary detective is hired to investigate the murder of a West Point cadet,” reads the film’s synopsis. “Restricted by the cadets’ code of silence, he joins one of their own to help solve the case – a young man known to the world as Edgar Allan Poe.”

Tyler Treese: I thought The Pale Blue Eye was amazing and Christian, not only do you have a great mystery in this movie, but it also takes place in the 1830s, which is an interesting time. What do you find most interesting about this combination of a mystery and a period piece?

Christian Bale: Well, first thank you very much. I’m so glad you enjoyed it and it’s great talking to you too. This is what I really enjoyed about reading the script, imagining what Scott would be [Cooper, director] come, and then see what Scott and Masa are[nobu Takayanagi, cinematographer] done and everyone involved, the production designers, everyone… it’s a beautiful atmospheric gothic murder mystery. The setting, the location, the same character as Landor – who I play – or Poe – who is Harry [Melling] games. I’ve always loved that gothic period look and set it in the 1830s … not everyone can handle that. Some faces did not fit at that time, some voices … there was a language in it that –, although the American accent was not really formed correctly at that time — it was a real hodgepodge. It is something of a rare talent to achieve that. This guy did it absolutely flawlessly, and it was a real pleasure to help Scott put it all together and then see how successful the end result was.

Harry, you are as good as Edgar Allen Poe. What I love about the character is that you give these grand, very poetic speeches. You turn down other characters, even in the movie where you’re like, “Oh, I’m suffering. I’m so tired,” and they’re like, “What?” How fun is it to play with his speech and improve the way he speaks?

Harry Melling: It’s a lot of fun. I think that’s one of the things that really appeals to me about the character: he’s an amalgamation of contradictory things. He was this performer, the way he would perform these poems to the cadets or to Landor to try and impress them. But at the same time, there is a weakness there. There is a shyness there, in a strange sense. It’s all in Scott’s script. It’s just a question of maybe joining the dots and filling in the gaps in terms of the beautiful range available in the script. So it was a joy, it really was. A real pleasure to play it.

The last scene in the movie, you and Harry are so vulnerable. It’s real and raw. How was the last scene of the movie filmed?

Christian Bale: Obviously an absolutely vitally important scene. It was a real joy to experiment with that scene with Harry. Cold blood! We were filming, I think it was like three in the morning, right?

Harry Melling: Yes, it used to be.

Christian Bale: But that just adds to it, you know? I enjoyed that, actually. I enjoyed the fact that we filmed it in the dead of winter outside of Pittsburgh, and it was freezing. It helps increase it, I believe.

Harry Melling: Yes, I agree.

Christian Bale: It’s an interesting one because there are choices to be made and we could have given Scott a lot of choices, but really, Scott was very sure. He knew what he was looking for. Because that scene is so complicated — and it’s so complicated [with] all the subtext and reading between the lines – it’s actually very simple, the methods by which we get it.



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