Two West Point Graduates from the Class of 1993 worked on the new Netflix movie “The Pale Blue Eye,” a fictional tale about a detective hired to investigate the murder of a West Point cadet. The detective, played by Christian Bale, enlists the help of one of West Point’s spookiest cadets to unravel the case—a young Edgar Allan Poe.
Classmates Michael Mazzocco ’93 and John Nawoichyk ’93 worked alongside director Scott Cooper, the crew and the cast as technical advisors and military historians. Their main goals were “ensuring the realism and authenticity of [their] West Point experience translated to the movie screen, all the while balancing constant time constraints alongside Scott Cooper’s vision and script,” according to Mazzocco.
Prior to filming, Nawoichyk had the opportunity to work with the different units of the film crew, including the director, the costume designers, prop master, armorers and historians.
“We spent hours drilling into the specific uniform pieces, from the uniform buttons to the badges and the proper weapons,” Nawoichyk said. “In addition, Mike and I worked with the historians, armorers and prop master to research the proper manual of arms in accordance with the drill manuals of the period. We then had to take those complex maneuvers and develop the drill and manual of arms to allow us to train the cast of cadets and officers who had no prior military experience. The research and hard work that went into the conditioning setting was truly fascinating.”
In order to train the civilian actors they were working with, Mazzocco and Nawoichyk conducted a two-day boot camp, as well as mini courses they reviewed in between takes. Mazzocco said he and Nawoichyk were instructing the background actors on drill and ceremonies, marching, manual of arms, and loading and firing vintage 1830 flintlock muskets. They spent an extra day with the principal actors to make sure they were prepared.
“In essence, we condensed four years of our cadet lives from the 1990s into a series of bootcamps and crash courses between takes to teach the most common military commands and movements to our civilian actors unfamiliar with military training applicable to 1830, a 163-year time gap from our USMA graduation date, to a time when Sylvanus Thayer, Father of the Military Academy, was Superintendent and Edgar Allan Poe was a plebe…no small task,” Mazzocco said.
When filming began, the two 1993 Old Grads joined the crew on set where they served as the advisors to director Scott Cooper, actors Christian Bale and Harry Melling, and the military actors.
According to Mazzocco, while on set, Mazzocco and Nawoichyk continued to reinforce military bearing, while making corrections on the actors up until "action" was called. To reinforce their military instruction, they created a drill and ceremonies pamphlet for the actors to take with them over the holidays so they could refresh their memories on their newly acquired military skills and practice military movements during their free time.
Mazzocco said that their time at the Academy was integral to them successfully navigating the world of film.
Mazzocco and Nawoichyk both expressed their joy in working with the film crew and dedicated actors and actresses.
“Throughout the whole experience, I was fascinated by the professionalism and dedication to the smallest details. It reminded me of the precision of the most elite military units,” Nawoichyk said. “I was most impressed by Scott Cooper, Christian Bale, Harry Melling, and the whole team’s guiding principle that we will make West Point’s discipline, dedication, and service to Nation the cornerstone of the film. As such, no detail or task was too small to consider when it came to doing the best job ever. Like any good commander, Scott was able to translate his intent and vision into action so that every person, no matter what their role, displayed a sense of pride and understanding in the mission.”
"The Pale Blue Eye" is now streaming on Netflix. Watch the trailer here:
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Photos courtesy of Netflix