Previous casting announcements have let us know that Antlers director Scott Cooper‘s serial killer thriller The Pale Blue Eye will star Christian Bale, Harry Melling, and Robert Duvall – and Deadline reports that the cast has been filled out in a major way, with The X-Files‘ Gillian Anderson and fourteen others signing on!
Anderson’s fellow new additions to the cast are Lucy Boynton (Bohemian Rhapsody), Charlotte Gainsbourg (Antichrist), Toby Jones (First Cow), Harry Lawtey (Industry), Simon McBurney (Carnival Row), Timothy Spall (Mr. Turner), Hadley Robinson (Moxie), Joey Brooks (Molly’s Game), Brennan Keel Cook (Encounter), Gideon Glick (The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel), Fred Hechinger (The White Lotus), Matt Helm (The Tragedy of Macbeth), Steven Maier (The Plot Against America), and Charlie Tahan (Ozark).
Based on a novel by Louis Bayard (pick up a copy HERE), The Pale Blue Eye will follow
the attempt to solve a series of murders that took place in 1830 at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point. Christian Bale will play a veteran detective who investigates the murders, helped by a detail-oriented young cadet who will later become a world famous author, Edgar Allan Poe.
Melling is playing Poe. Details on the roles the newly added cast members will be playing have not been revealed, but with a cast like this we can expect to see some strong performances in the film.
Here’s the description of Bayard’s novel:
At West Point Academy in 1830, the calm of an October evening is shattered by the discovery of a young cadet’s body swinging from a rope. The next morning, an even greater horror comes to light. Someone has removed the dead man’s heart. Augustus Landor—who acquired some renown in his years as a New York City police detective—is called in to discreetly investigate. It’s a baffling case Landor must pursue in secret, for the scandal could do irreparable damage to the fledgling institution. But he finds help from an unexpected ally—a moody, young cadet with a penchant for drink, two volumes of poetry to his name, and a murky past that changes from telling to telling. The strange and haunted Southern poet for whom Landor develops a fatherly affection, is named Edgar Allan Poe.
The Pale Blue Eye is being produced by Cooper, Bale, John Lesher, and Tyler Thompson. The film is being made for the Netflix streaming service.