Christian Bale on earning producer credits for ‘Amsterdam’ and ‘Pale Blue Eye’: “I was there from the start”

Christian Bale charts a new career path: producer.

After receiving his first such honor in the fall, from David O. Russell Amsterdamhe picked up another one on his new movie, The light blue eye. But Bale isn’t one to sneak credit into his contracts as a vanity gift.

“Like everyone else, I’m sometimes amazed at the number of producers you see in the credits,” Bale explains. THR at the recent premiere of the Netflix movie he produced for filmmaker and longtime collaborator Scott Cooper.

“I did it Amsterdam and with that because I was there from the start. I helped put the films together, and especially as a creative producer, a right-hand man, a consigliere of sorts,” Bale continued. “I can be there to whisper in their ear, remind them how we put it together, what the point was, etc. I wouldn’t want to do it if it’s not appropriate and I’m not working on it.”

Cooper said that though it’s the duo’s first time producing together — and their third collaboration as an actor and director since then Out of the oven and Enemies – it was an easy extension of their close collaboration.

“Christian reads all my scripts whether he’s in them or not; he sees parts of all my movies, whether he’s in them or not; so he’s acting as a producer whether he’s involved in the movie or not,” Cooper explained. “It was a really great experience to have him produce this film as well. Every time you can make movies with your close friends, it just gets richer,” adding that the two have “great shorthand.”

Light blue eye follows veteran detective Augustus Landor (Bale) in 1830s New York who investigates a series of grisly murders at the United States Military Academy with the help of Edgar Allan Poe, a young military cadet at the time. The film hit theaters on December 23 and will begin streaming on Netflix on Friday.

This story first appeared in the January 5 issue of The Hollywood Reporter magazine. Click here to subscribe.