Interview: Harry Melling Discusses ‘The Pale Blue Eye’ and Playing Edgar Allen Poe

Harry Melling has never had a role like this before. The actor, previously best known for his performances as Dudley Dursley in the Harry Potter franchise, has slowly but surely been extending beyond that series. Work in films like The Ballad of Buster Scruggs, The Current War: Directors Cut, The Devil All the Time, The Lost City of Z, The Old Guard, and The Tragedy of Macbeth, alongside television like The Queen’s Gambit, has set him on a new path. However, it’s playing a young Edgar Allen Poe in The Pale Blue Eye that’s likely to jettison him towards the next phase of his career. With the movie hitting Netflix this weekend, I spoke to him late last year about playing Poe. Today, that conversation comes your way.

In my review of The Pale Blue Eye (here), I had this to say about his work:

Christian Bale and Harry Melling are the standouts here. The likes of Toby Jones, Simon McBurney, and Timothy Spall are fine, but they’re playing somewhat stock roles. Bale is on familiar ground, but he’s such a good actor you just can enjoy him knocking in easy runs. As for Melling, he’s the surprise, putting forth the charm and romance of a Poe in his earlier days. Bale and Melling share a nice little chemistry, too.

Below, you can see my chat with Melling. We didn’t have a ton of time, but I tried to make it count, focusing on what made him want to play Poe. In particular, it’s the appeal of playing this version of Poe that fascinated us both, making for an interesting discussion. Starring opposite Christian Bale, Melling more than holds his own, making The Pale Blue Eye quite the enjoyable period procedural, as you’ll see in a few days on Netflix…

Here now is my interview with The Pale Blue Eye star Harry Melling. Enjoy:

The Pale Blue Eye is in theaters now and hits Netflix on January 6th!