We’re well aware of Christian Bale’s limitless range. Ever since 1987’s Empire of the Sun, he’s given every ounce of himself to one unforgettable production after the next, including three collaborations with Scott Cooper. It’s about time we more widely recognize that same wealth of talent in Bale's The Pale Blue Eye co-star, Harry Melling.
Based on the Louis Bayard novel, Cooper’s film takes place at West Point in 1830. When a cadet is found dead, a local detective, Bale’s Augustus Landor, is brought in to investigate. It soon becomes clear that Landor won’t be able to crack the case without the help of a rather eccentric cadet with a deep love of poetry, Melling’s Edgar Allan Poe.
“He nailed something and he was getting something; I could see he was getting something out of this performance in an audition, which is the worst time to actually do anything interesting in acting. I've always been abysmal at auditions. I have no idea how I ever got cast in anything. But I watched it, he was hypnotizing. He just made me only see him as Poe afterwards, and Scott agreed. He's bloody good.
“For me, first days are always quite tough because you just want to get off to, not a good start but a solid start from where you can move forward. And so I would always remember that first day being in that very darkened room in Landor’s cottage, and it was just very gentle [and] they gave me the space in order to find [it] … I just had time, and Christian’s so generous in terms of giving you the space to really play and find things, and just is always present.