Christian Bale and director Scott Cooper are teaming up again for their third feature film together, which will be titled The Pale Blue Eye. The movie is an adaptation of the Louis Bayard novel of the same name and Cooper is also writing the script.
The story is a thriller that “revolves around the attempt to solve a series of murders that took place in 1830 at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point.” Bale will take on the role of a veteran detective who investigates these murders, and he’s helped by a detail-oriented young cadet who will later become a world-famous author, Edgar Allan Poe.
This sounds like a great project for Bale and Cooper to be a part of and the story has the potential to make for a fascinating murder mystery. Cooper said in a statement:
“Even though Edgar Allan Poe was born in Boston and died, delirious, in Baltimore, the majority of his life was spent in Virginia, my home state. So I grew up with his presence. He bequeathed us the detective genre, and he’s still such a presence in our culture, with every horror, mystery and science fiction writer indebted to Poe. This is my attempt at a large-canvas whodunit, with a serial killer at its center. I want to make films that push me into a different, maybe uncomfortable space, but I am glad to have Christian go there with me. I’ve wanted to make this for over a decade and fortunately for me, Christian has perfectly aged into the lead character. He was far too young when I first thought of making this. Films are meant to happen at the right time. Christian is always in high demand, but to be able to make this with him will be such a joy for me.”
Bale will also produce the film along with Cooper, and the plan is to shoot the movie in the fall. Cooper and Bale previously worked together on the films Out of the Furnace and Hostiles. Cooper most recently wrapped the Guillermo del Toro-produced horror film Antlers for Fox Searchlight.
Source: Deadline