Christian Bale starring in The Pale Blue Eye

Christian Bale is to star in 'The Pale Blue Eye'.

The 47-year-old actor will team up once again with director Scott Cooper for the third time on the thriller

The plot revolves around the attempt to solve a series of murders that took place in 1830 at the US Military Academy at West Point. Christian will play a veteran detective who investigates the murders, who is aided by a detail-oriented young cadet who would later become a world famous author, Edgar Allan Poe.

Bale and Cooper previously collaborated on the films 'Out of the Furnace' and 'Hostiles'.

Scott told Deadline: "Even though Edgar Allan Poe was born in Boston and died, delirious, in Baltimore, the majority of his life spent in Virginia, my home state.

"So I grew up in 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."

The 50-year-old filmmaker continued: "This is my attempt at a large-canvas whodunnit, with a serial killer at its centre. 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."

Christian and Scott are producing with John Lesher and Tyler Thompson with the movie slated to shoot later this year.