Christian Bale

The McConnells Mill Covered Bridge in Lawrence County will be closed until Dec. 10 for filming as crews set up scenes for “The Pale Blue Eye,” a Netflix film starring Christian Bale.

Film crews have been working in McConnells Mill State Park since Nov. 22, filming at the historic gristmill, Kildoo Trail, Rim Road Climbing Area and Kildoo Picnic Area.

Information on the McConnells Mill website said visitors should expect delays in these areas of the park, but that they will stay open during filming with the exception of the bridge.

Filming is scheduled to be complete by Friday with restoration and cleanup to follow until Dec. 10.

“The Pale Blue Eye” is a Gothic thriller based on a novel of the same name by Louis Bayard. The film is directed by Scott Cooper, and produced by Bale, Cooper, Tracey Landon, John Lesher and Tyler Thompson.

The plot follows a veteran detective who investigates a series of murders at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point in 1830, helped by a detail-oriented young cadet who later will become the world famous author Edgar Allan Poe.

Unit publicist Peter Silbermann said the film's team, many of whom also worked on “Out of the Furnace,” which also was filmed in Western Pennsylvania and directed by Cooper, were excited to return to the area.“'Out of the Furnace' was glorious. Christian loves it here, Scott loves it here, I love it here, and people are wonderful. We're very happy to be here,” he said. “Our story takes place in 1830. You have a lot of stuff in this part of the state that is very old and very beautiful, and very perfect for this film.”Silbermann said filming scouts found that the area fit the location needs for “The Pale Blue Eye.”“When Netflix said, 'Yes, go forward with the film,' our director and our producer and our cinematographer went on scouts with our location managers,” he said. “They are local, and they know this part of Western Pennsylvania extremely well.”“The idea for them is they read the script and then break it down into the visual needs of the film,” Silbermann said. “Even though this film takes place at West Point, West Point doesn't look like it did in the 1800s. It kind of looks like Silicon Valley. We couldn't film there.”The crew looked for locations in Eastern Pennsylvania, but finally settled on McConnells Mill.“Our location scouts, they break it down and they look at various locations,” he said. “This bridge worked perfectly.”

Lawrence County Commissioner Morgan Boyd said he was glad to have the crew filming in the area.“It's good for the area,” he said. “Whenever you're able to get sites in your county into larger movies, that generates tourism, that generates interest in the area, and that generates economic outcomes for any region.”The county board of commissioners approved the crew to make some alterations to the bridge, which will be returned to its original state after filming.“The bridge is perfect. It just looked magnificent,” Silbermann said. “The only thing that we had to do to alter it slightly is paint the interior blackish-brown, so that it doesn't look old, it looks like it would have back then.”The crew will film at the bridge for one more day on Thursday before cleanup at the site begins.