John Fetterman officially became the 54th senator in Pennsylvania history this week. But courtesy of Netflix, he can add another job to his resume: actor.
Seriously, just check his IMDb.
Fetterman makes a cameo in "The Pale Blue Eye," a 19th-century drama starring Christian Bale, which debuted on Netflix Friday. Set in 1830, the film follows Bale’s character, New York City detective Augustus Landor, as he investigates a murder at West Point with the assistance of academy cadet Edgar Allan Poe (played by Harry Melling, of "Harry Potter" fame).
But how much is the senator from Pennsylvania in the flick? Well, not much — a “blink and you’ll miss it” situation. Heck, we didn’t blink at all, and almost missed it anyway.
We clocked him in one scene early in the film, when Bale’s character goes to a tavern after starting his murder investigation. Fetterman shows up in the background as Bale’s character speaks to the bartender, and can be seen lighting a long pipe from a candle.
And he also appears to briefly look directly into the camera as it tracks Bale through the scene. Rookie mistake, but we’ll let it slide. After all, looking for a senator in the film already broke the fourth wall plenty for us.
But, as Fetterman tweeted last month, his wife Gisele also makes a cameo in "The Pale Blue Eye." And that may be — but we’re not totally sure we saw her. She is possibly in the background of one scene in the same tavern about 45 minutes after Fetterman appears, though if it’s her, the background is too out of focus to conclusively tell.
You won’t find either of them credited by name in the film’s closing credits, either. Both, though, do get a special thanks.
Fetterman, incidentally, isn’t the first senator to appear in a Hollywood production. Sen. John McCain, for example, made a cameo in 2005′s "Wedding Crashers." And Steven Soderbergh’s 2000 drama "Traffic" featured appearances from a number of senators, including Sens. Orrin Hatch, Harry Reid, and Don Nickles.
But retired Sen. Patrick Leahy may be the most prevalent, with appearances in five Batman movies, dating back to 1995′s "Batman Forever."
So Fetterman’s Netflix appearance is far from the first, or even weirdest, political cameo. But it may be one of the funniest, given the reasoning behind why he’s is in "The Pale Blue Eye."
Fetterman assisted Bale and director Scott Cooper on 2013′s "Out of the Furnace," which filmed in Braddock, Pennsylvania, where Fetterman was mayor for more than a decade. So, when it came time to shoot "The Pale Blue Eye," also filmed largely in western Pennsylvania, Bale had one guy in mind.
“John’s got this fantastic face, hulking figure,” Bale said at recent screening. “So I said to Scott, ‘We’ve got to have him in the tavern. ... That’s a face that fits in the 1830s.’”
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