Christian Bale and Scott Cooper Reteam for THE PALE BLUE EYE

Deadline’s Mike Fleming brings word that Christian Bale is set to reunite with ‘Hostiles’ and ‘Out of the Furnace’ director Scott Cooper for the historical thriller ‘The Pale Blue Eye.’

Adapted from the 2006 novel of the same name by Louis Bayard, the thriller will see Bale playing a veteran detective investigating a series of murders that took place in 1830 at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point. Helping Bale’s detective in his investigation will be a detail-oriented young cadet who will later become world famous author, Edgar Allan Poe.

“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,” Cooper told Deadline. “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.”

In addition to starring, Bale will take a producers credit on the adaptation, with Cooper, John Lesher and Cross Creek’s Tyler Thompson also producing.