He’s known as a master of macabre, for pioneering the short story in the US and is credited with inventing the detective fiction genre.
But perhaps far less is known about the gothic writer Edgar Allan Poe as a person.
Now, a new film about the poet is looking to change that. The Pale Blue Eye – based on the book of the same name – explores the period of Poe’s life when he found himself at the US Military Academy. The movie imagines the young writer teaming up with a detective to investigate a series of murders.
While Poe is played by Harry Potter star Harry Melling, Christian Bale plays the lead veteran detective Augustus Landor, and the starry ensemble cast also includes Gillian Anderson, Timothy Spall and Lucy Boynton.
But as filming started in November 2021, Bale told Sky News’ Backstage Podcast that, despite being part of a big cast, he largely spent his time off-camera on his own.
“It was still right in the middle of COVID,” he explained.
“I think they were being really draconian with me – like they wouldn’t let me see anybody, because everybody was getting ill at some point, but they were like, ‘man, if you get ill the whole production has to stop’.”
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“So they were like ‘get back to your room and stay in your room’ – and I did!”
The film is a murder mystery, so only when it’s over does the viewer realise the breadcrumbs that have been left for them along the way in terms of figuring out whodunnit.
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Bale, who is also one of the movie’s producers, says, as an actor, it makes for an interesting challenge.
Image: Bale spoke to Backstage – Sky News’ TV and film review podcast. Credit: Scott Garfield/Netflix ..
“I would give Scott [Cooper – the film’s director] some variation, some choices he could have in the edit room,” Bale said.
“Scott is always very meticulous and really very precise in what he wants and he tends to be exactly right, so he doesn’t experiment too much.
“But, with this, because it was such a particular balancing act, I tried to give him a few variations and I think he really nailed it.”
Poe isn’t the main character, but the film explores the literary trailblazer in a setting most people aren’t aware he was ever in.
Gillian Anderson told Sky News’ Backstage Podcast that’s one of the things that made the film attractive to her.
“It was interesting to dive into something that had such a strong element of gothic thriller-esque, but at the same time, an origin story about somebody who wouldn’t normally be in that kind of circumstance.
“The fact that he was at West Point [the military academy] for a period of time – what does a person who is an artist, who is so different from what you might normally find at West Point and the rigidity of West Point, what do they do under those circumstances?
“I think that that threw into light a whole other side of Poe that I hadn’t really even thought about before, which I found fascinating,” she told the podcast.
Image: Gillian Anderson plays Julia, the wife of Toby Jones’ (L) Dr Marquis. Credit: Scott Garfield/Netflix
The actress plays Mrs Marquis, the wife of the doctor who performs an autopsy on one of the murder victims. The character is a real oddball and Anderson admits that it’s good fun to play someone so strange.
“It’s very freeing – I remember feeling that a few years ago I did Blanche in [A Streetcar Named Desire at the National Theatre] and there’s something about Blanche that you just feel like you could do almost anything. It just feels that you can give all of those bits that you’ve restrained in yourself to another character.
“It was similar with Mrs Marquis, I think, because she’s so unpredictable, and what we see in the film is real eccentricity and quirkiness.
“To be able to push that to varying levels on a day is enjoyable.”
Poe also comes across as odd at times.
Melling, who plays him, says that while preparing for the role he found himself engaged in some curious behaviour himself – rehearsing lines in his local cemetery.
“Very respectfully, I should add,” he told Backstage.
Image: Harry Melling (R) told Sky News’ Backstage podcast about why he decided to learn his lines in a graveyard… Credit: Scott Garfield/Netflix
“But yeah early on, I was reading a lot about Edgar being obsessed with the dead with death and the occult, and I thought, you know, I’m just going to head to the graveyard with my book and see what comes to me.
“And it slowly became a routine of going to the cemetery, and reading a bit, and just going through some of the things he says, and just slowly building up that world for him and how he thought. It was just a very early sort-of building block phase to getting to Edgar.”
Melling says he also set off on a deep dive in terms of researching the writer.
“What I found really useful was his early life – losing both his parents, being adopted, moving to London, then moving back to Virginia,” he said.
“All of that stuff about being a bit of a nomad early on explained a lot in terms of what Scott Cooper’s script was doing with this character, who was constantly trying to invent himself a persona as the young poet.
“But there’s only so much you can take research I think… and also people have such a fixed idea of who Edgar is. It was very interesting to go back and work out, ‘okay, who is this person before we get to this idea of this icon, this American writer of the macabre and the dark?’, and that was a really interesting exercise for me.”
Image: Lucy Boynton plays Lea Marquis in The Pale Blue Eye. Credit: Scott Garfield/Netflix
Melling’s co-star Lucy Boynton agreed the script certainly sheds new light on Poe.
“[The film is] exploring the person behind the reputation and facade that we’re aware of,” she told Sky News.
“I think I’ve realised I hadn’t really questioned what he, what the person behind all of that work and kind of gothic forefront, would be, so it was really beautiful to see Harry’s interpretation of that but also just the exploration of this script of the sensitivity behind the strength of that work.”
Police will take no further action over alleged chants at a Bob Vylan concert in London.
Met Police had launched an investigation after allegations the singer, real name Pascal Robinson-Foster, was heard in footage saying “death to the IDF (Israel Defence League)”.
The footage was filmed at a performance supporting Iggy Pop, 78, at Alexandra Palace in May.
In a video, Mr Robinson-Foster is also alleged to have said: “Death to every single IDF soldier out there as an agent of terror for Israel.”
But the Met Police confirmed they are closing the investigation following advice from the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS).
Image: The Glastonbury performance led to a police investigation. Pic: PA
‘No further action will be taken’
A spokesperson for the force said: “On Wednesday 2 July, officers became aware of footage that appeared to have been filmed at Alexandra Palace in London on 28 May. An investigation was launched into the language used in the footage.
“Early investigative advice was sought from the Crown Prosecution Service who considered a number of potential offences but determined that, based on the information and material available, there would likely be insufficient evidence to take the case forward.
“As a result, officers have decided that no further action will be taken. We recognise the concerns that the footage caused, particularly among many in London’s Jewish communities.
“It emerged during a period where we have seen a concerning rise in antisemitic hate crime.
“We continue to work closely with community representatives to understand those concerns, to ensure the safety and security of Jewish Londoners and to provide reassurance moving forward.”
It followed footage of Mr Robinson-Foster allegedly leading a chant of “death, death to the IDF” during a BBC live-streamed performance at Glastonbury Festival, in June earlier this year, leading to an investigation from Avon and Somerset Police.
A man, in his 30s, understood to be Mr Robinson-Foster, had voluntarily attended an interview on Monday in relation to the band’s Glastonbury performance, the force said.
Police added the individual was not arrested but an investigation is ongoing.
After the Glastonbury appearance, the group were dropped from a number of festivals.
Actor and director Samantha Morton has said councils who fail to prevent the deaths of children in care should face manslaughter charges.
Warning: This story contains references to suicide.
In a powerful interview with Sky News, the Oscar-nominated, BAFTA-winning actor and director, who grew up in care, said Britain’s care system needs to be “completely rethought”.
It comes after a Sky News documentary, A Girl Called Nonita, told the story of 18-year-old Nonita Grabovskyte, who died in the care of the state following a catalogue of failures by those responsible for her care.
Nonita took her own life on railway tracks in December 2023, just two weeks after her birthday. She had previously told doctors and social workers that she intended to kill herself as soon as she turned 18. But nothing was done to prevent her death.
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44:43
Unseen: A girl called Nonita
“I was a child of the state, just like Nonita,” Morton told Sky News.
“I was put in care at birth until I got the letter to say I was no longer the council’s responsibility. I was kicked out at 16 and put into a homeless hostel.”
After spells of homelessness, she found a local TV actors’ workshop and managed to secure roles that would eventually lead to Hollywood.
But she says she has never forgotten her childhood, which saw her in and out of children’s homes and foster families.
“The lack of care historically is shocking,” she said. “But the lack of care today is worse. Back then, it felt like there was at least some comeuppance.
“The system now is not fit for purpose. It needs root and branch reform. It needs to be completely rethought.”
The young people who grew up in care who have died in England since 2020
2020: 40
2021: 30
2022: 60
2023: 90
2024: 80
Source: Department for Education
The data shows a sharp rise in deaths among care leavers – young adults who have aged out of the care system and are expected to live independently, often with little or no support.
The Department for Education only began collecting data for care leavers aged 22 to 25 in 2023, meaning the true scale of deaths over the past decade is likely to be far higher.
Morton says councils should be held more accountable for the deaths of children in their care, especially if local authority failings contributed to deaths.
Image: Pic: Invision/AP
‘State manslaughter’
“A failure to care has massive consequences,” she told Sky News. “And the consequences are that people like Nonita die. I believe that that is a kind of state manslaughter.
“And individuals who fail to do their job properly should be in a dock.”
Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson has told Sky News that deaths of care-experienced young people should “shame us all”.
All deaths of children in the care of the state must be reported to the government via the Child Safeguarding Incident Notification Scheme.
But there are doubts as to whether all deaths are being reported.
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5:28
Phillipson: ‘Nonita was failed on so many levels’
‘Shames us as a country’
Ms Phillipson told Sky News she has asked officials to urgently review the process to check for underreporting.
“I’m concerned about serious incident notifications – about making sure we’re receiving all notifications of such incidents taking place,” she said.
“Because it’s only if we know what’s happening, if we fully understand what’s going on in the lives of children, that we as a government, as a country, can provide the support they need.”
Ms Phillipson added: “It shames us all as a country that we so badly fail many of the most vulnerable children who’ve experienced such appalling trauma and abuse in their early lives.
“I read every single notification personally – and it always stays with you. Every case is a child or young person who deserved better.”
If you have been affected by any of the issues raised in this story, help, and support is available. You can call Samaritans free on 116 123 anytime day or night. You can also email jo@samaritans.org or visit www.samaritans.org to find support online.
Sally Kirkland, a former model and Oscar nominated actress known for her roles in films such as Anna, The Sting and JFK has died aged 84.
Her representative, Michael Greene, said Kirkland died on Tuesday morning at a Palm Springs hospice.
Kirkland had been unwell and struggling to cover medical bills after she fractured six bones last year and developed two life-threatening infections. She had also been diagnosed with dementia.
A GoFundMePage that was set up by her friends to help pay for her ongoing treatment had raised over £45,000 ($60,000).
Image: Michael Douglas, left, and Sally Kirkland appear with their best actor Golden Globes for Wall Street and Anna. Pic: AP
Her biggest role was in the 1987 film Anna, as a fading Czech movie star remaking her life in the United States and mentoring a younger actor.
Kirkland won a Golden Globe and earned an Oscar nomination alongside Cher in Moonstruck, Glenn Close in Fatal Attraction, Holly Hunter in Broadcast News and Meryl Streep in Ironweed.
Born in New York City, Kirkland was encouraged to start modelling at age five by her mother, who was a fashion editor at Vogue and Life magazines. Kirkland went on to graduate from the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in 1961.
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An early breakout for the star was appearing in Andy Warhol’s 13 Most Beautiful Women in 1964.
Image: Sally Kirkland in 2015. Pic: Reuters
Some of her earliest roles were playing Shakespeare parts, including Helena in A Midsummer Night’s Dream and Miranda in an off-Broadway production of The Tempest.
She once told the Los Angeles Times: “I don’t think any actor can really call him or herself an actor unless he or she puts in time with Shakespeare.”
Kirkland was also infamous for her nude scenes, often disrobing in films and for social causes. In particular, Kirkland volunteered and advocated for people with AIDS, the homeless and prisoners.