It’s hard to take your eyes off Christian Bale when his Detective Augustus Landor is staring across the table at Harry Melling’s intense portrayal of a young Edgar Allan Poe while the duo discusses a possible murder over drinks at an 1830s-era tavern.
The background of that early scene in “The Pale Blue Eye” — a Western Pennsylvania-shot gothic thriller making its Netflix debut Friday — contains just as many secrets as the film’s twisty narrative. Train your gaze away from Bale and Melling and you’ll notice a tall bearded man walking across the tavern while a barmaid in a white bonnet scuttles about while performing various tasks.
Those aren’t any ordinary bit players wearing period garb. The bearded man is Pennsylvania Lt. Gov. and Sen.-elect John Fetterman, and the barmaid is Gisele Fetterman, his wife and the Keystone State’s second lady. Those two somehow managed to inject even more star power into a movie that already features performances from the likes of Bale, Robert Duvall and Gillian Anderson.
Gisele Fetterman recently chatted with the Union Progress about her experience on the set of “The Pale Blue Eye,” her family’s transition from Harrisburg to Washington, D.C., the commonwealth’s increasingly bustling film scene and more.
“It’s such a win-win industry for the state,” she said. “I think we’re very lucky to live in a state that has become a little Hollywood in a sense. It’s something anyone can be a part of.”
“The Pale Blue Eye” finds Bale’s detective attempting to solve an alleged murder that occurred at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point with the help of Melling’s Poe, then a West Point cadet. The cast also includes Toby Jones as campus Dr. Daniel Marquis; Harry Lawtey and Lucy Boynton as his shady children, Artemus and Lea; Anderson as his eccentric wife, Julia; and Duvall as occult expert Jean Pepe.
Western Pennsylvania stood in for New York state’s Hudson Valley during a shoot that took place in late 2021 and early 2022. It was director Scott Cooper’s second time filming in the area, following 2013’s “Out of the Furnace,” and Bale’s third time making a movie here after “Out of the Furnace” and 2012’s “The Dark Knight Rises.”
The Fettermans formed a friendship with both Cooper and Bale while they were here shooting “Out of the Furnace.” When they returned to Western Pennsylvania for “The Pale Blue Eye,” they reached out to see if the couple were interested in making cameos. Gisele pointed to a recent Hollywood Reporter interview where Cooper claimed that Bale said, “You know what, John has such a great face that looks like it comes from 1830, why don’t we put him in the film?”
“I was like, ‘Yes!’” Gisele said of her reaction upon being asked to be in “The Pale Blue Eye.” “John was like, ‘Really, me? I don’t know about this!’ But I was like, ‘Yes, we are doing this.’”
This was Gisele’s second time working on a movie set after she also appeared as an extra in the 2002 Richard Gere-starring erotic thriller “Unfaithful.” She’s still in awe at the sheer amount of meticulous work that goes into filming any Hollywood production.
“You want to make sure you’re not the one messing up,” she said. “You do the same scene many times over, and each time they adjust to make sure the candles and everything are perfect. It’s amazing to see the level of eye for detail these folks have.”
She said that John looked “perfect” in his costume and that she appreciated him being willing to do something that was so “out of his comfort zone.” As for her own “Pale Blue Eye” wardrobe, having to fit into multiple corsets gave her a greater perspective on how far female fashion has come after “seeing what women went through in that time to get dressed.”
Most of “The Pale Blue Eye” was shot outside the Pittsburgh city limits. Westminster College in New Wilmington served as a stand-in for 1830s West Point, and quite a bit of filming was done at the Ligonier Valley Historical Society’s Compass Inn Museum in Laughlintown.
There’s clearly some tangible excitement in those areas over the film’s imminent Netflix release. The Diamond Theatre of Ligonier held multiple screenings of “The Pale Blue Eye” over the past two weeks. Owner Leigh Ann McCulty said her theater purchased small replica Oscars for residents who worked on or were in the movie as a fun way of “bringing Hollywood back to town.
“As soon as we realized they were filming ‘The Pale Blue Eye’ in Laughlintown, we contacted our booking agent and said we have to get this movie,” McCulty said. “Maybe that was a bit premature, but we did not want to miss out on showing it at Diamond Theatre!”
Likewise, Westminster College is hosting an “exclusive red carpet event” Thursday at Golden Star Theaters’ Shenango Valley Cinemas in Hermitage. The buzz at Westminster is so palpable that attendance for this evening of “Pale Blue Eye” festivities already has reached maximum capacity, according to Jean Hale, Westminster vice president of institutional advancement.
“We would like to thank Golden Star Theaters for their generous cooperation in arranging such a special evening for our Titan community,” Hale said.
Added Westminster President Kathy Brittain Richardson: “We were delighted to have been selected as a site for filming. Our campus served as a beautiful ‘double’ for West Point. Additionally, some of our students were given the opportunity to appear as extras, while others worked in technical support areas. It made for a memorable late fall semester.”
The Fettermans got to have their own private screening of “The Pale Blue Eye” in early December. That type of movie isn’t usually Gisele’s style, but it still managed to win her over.
“I’m not a fan of period pieces, but I feel like I should be watching more period pieces because I really enjoyed it, the essence of it all and the storytelling,” she said. “I love the way people used to speak back then, and the clothing. It was really beautifully done.”
These days, the Fettermans are mostly focusing on getting ready to spend a lot more time in the nation’s capital. Gisele said that they’re busy prepping for the move, specifically working out final details on housing. Otherwise, though, “it’s all falling into place” for the former Braddock couple.
Gisele said that she and her husband have a “long-established relationship” with the Pittsburgh film industry. Folks in that realm have been “wonderful partners” with Gisele’s nonprofit Free Store 15104, which provides donated necessities to community members in need.
John was “always a very vocal supporter” of all the filmmaking efforts taking place in Pittsburgh, Gisele said, and she expects that to continue after he takes office.
“It’s something that should really be encouraged and supported more and more,” she said.
She couldn’t speak highly enough about her experience working with Cooper, Bale and everyone else on “The Pale Blue Eye.” Given how often they keep returning here, Gisele is looking forward “to the next thing they do in Pittsburgh” and hopes “we get invited back” to participate in whatever that project may be.
For now, though, she just wants everyone in Pennsylvania to check out “The Pale Blue Eye” once it hits Netflix later this week.
“Think of every scene and the amount of detail and talent of folks that went into it,” she said. “You likely know someone who was a part of it. It’s really cool to see it come together and makes me really proud to know it was a PA film.”
Joshua covers pop culture, media and more at the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, but he's currently on strike. Contact him at jaxelrod@unionprogress.com.