"Scorsese's Island"

Martin Scorsese is the cream-of-the-crop when it comes to modern Hollywood filmmaking. He took the grit of classic Hollywood and gave it a down-to-earth feel for the modern Hollywood age.

However, while Scorsese is largely known for his slice-of-life dramas like Boxcar Bertha, Taxi Driver, Raging Bull, Goodfellas, Casino and The Departed, he's also brought his trademark authenticity over the years to films of various diverse genres including The Last Temptation Of Christ, Cape Fear, Kundun, Gangs Of New York, and The Aviator.

Now, the 67 year-old filmmaker returns to the thriller genre with Shutter Island, which was adapted from a novel by Dennis Lehane. Martin first discussed with us the process of making the film.

"That's like how'd you make the entire movie," Scorsese says, "In my mind, I still haven't quite finished it. Basically, it was from reading Laeta Kalogridis's script, based on Lehane's novel and from the reaction that I had in reading that script, as to the world that I had imagined as I was reading it and how it really turned out to be, how it was revealed to be in many different realities, and without giving away too much, certainly the levels of the characters, the doctor appears one way, scene four, it's another way, scene ten, it's something else."

"And it's something that intrigued me a great deal, so, primarily, the saga that Teddy, Leo [Dicaprio's] character, goes through, and the conflict that's inherent," he continues, "And in any event, I try to approach it from my own reaction to reading the material. And then in the casting of course, I like to say although it isn't as simple as this, but I'd like to say I didn't quite know I sort of gave myself to the material along with the actors. I didn't quite know where we would be at any given time. And I think we discovered this as we went along. At least for myself, I know.

"Scorsese's Island"

What I mean is it was a process of discovery throughout and that includes the editing of the picture. That doesn't mean I knew that it was going to be a process of discovery (laughing). I had an intimation of that. I didn't know how much it would be it, but it turned out to be a great deal."

Scorsese elaborated on how the thematic elements of Shutter Island played a role in the editing of the film.

"I think the trappings of the story, the nature of the situation, the doctor and his hospital, the patients, the island, the storm, two detectives, an escaped patient automatically brings to mind certain genres in my mind, certain images that go back several hundred years," he says, "And so, I had all this to draw upon. The issue ultimately was to have them work for our story and for our characters and at the same time, refer to other material, other films, other types of films, other, as you may say, genres, in the past. In other words, I think the more you see, especially being young, the more you see the past, the more you can draw upon that, and the more you can make the present and the future. It's how you process the past, and at often times in the picture, there are references to certain imagery from certain pictures and certain novels, but is that literal? In other words, on the one hand, it's a reference to that type of storm, shot of a mansion at night in a storm, creates certain reactions, because we've seen, that's part of our DNA to a certain extent in film."

"But what does it mean to our story and how is it to be, what's the angle to use, what's the camera angle, what's the use of music there that relates to our story that doesn't, at all, refer to the cliché of a genre, let's say," Martin adds,

"Scorsese's Island"

"And so, what makes a cliché true? And this is part of the elements of the visuals. Ultimately, the use of 2:35 aspect ratio widescreen, too, if the characters are in a labyrinth or a trap, it's interesting to fill the frame more with that, those elements of a trap. Interestingly, in this picture, the trap is internal. But we had room in the frame to play with that, along with the close-ups, and the way they are in frame together or, literally, the iron walkways, or any of this. And at the same time, you're on an island, where it's open sky and open ocean, so where is the claustrophobia, you see. So all of these, it draws a lot on very, very long memory of films that I've seen and books that I've read and music that I've listened to over the years."

Martin discussed how the music also played a role in shaping the film, which was culled from different pieces of modern classical music.

"The music itself is something entirely created by combining sections of different modern classical music, whether it's John Adams or Penderecki or Nigetti, Ingram Marshall, or Robbie Robertson, the one who would send me this music," Scorsese says, "I'd listen to it and start synching it up to the picture in different places, and then, overlapping and combing and creating a tone and mood and atmosphere that I thought would be interesting."

Shutter Island tells the story of two U.S. Marshals, Teddy Daniels, played by Leonardo DiCaprio, and Chuck Aule, played by Mark Ruffalo who investigates a criminal mental institution on a Massachusetts island when one of its patients turns up missing. Scorsese discusses how he and his cast each contributed to the overall shaping of the film.

"I think, firstly, we had read the script and we worked in rehearsal in the hotel and the office room," Martin says, "But I think it all started to hit me

"Scorsese's Island"

the first day of rehearsal when we all arrived in the office and the two marshals came to speak to [DiCaprio] and suddenly, it all changed (chuckles). I'm not quite sure why and how, but normally, that does anyway. You have your characters, your actors all ready, they're in the set, they're in the actual place on the set, the combination of location and set, but there's something all about the behavior that started to"¦I remember I shot that scene quite a long time two or three days."

"There were certain levels I wanted to reach, certain light touches in a way, or references with a glance, or the use of the pipe in a certain way, the amount of smoke coming out of the pipe even, I don't know," he continues, "The way Ben [Kingsley] moved around the desk because he said a certain line or not, their behavior. That's why I screened Laura for everyone, just to give them a reference to the nature of the detective and the detective's body language, let's say, and Laura, in 1944, was Dana Andrews's character and is world-weary, having gone through the war. When he goes and he asks, he has people are talking to him, the characters are talking to him, he's not looking at anybody, so that was an element for Leo and Mark [Ruffalo], but for Ben, was something else entirely. Looking at the pictures on the wall, the way their faces are in the frame together, with Leo's hat and Ben's profile, this was something that was discovered on the set. And as we started to get through scene, and also the set dressing, this one suddenly when he started dressing the set, it was something else entirely here."

However, Martin reveals that situations out of his control like increasingly tumultuous weather during filming managed to inadvertently drive the creative energies of his cast in the film.

"And we began to realize, getting in deeper,

"Scorsese's Island"

that I was excited about the story," he says, "But at the same time, it really happened once the weather started to treat us badly, but a slight panic as to would we hit all the levels, would we have the time to do it, but for the first six, seven weeks, it was pretty good. We were indoors and we were able to explore these different things."

"By the time we got outdoors, add to the emotional levels that they had to get to, that Leo had to get to, you add to that, this happens in film," Scorsese adds, "But when you see rain and wind hitting the actors to the level, it's almost impossible for them to move in the frame. And this was a brutalizing experience for them, for everybody, but this is the way films are made."

Scorsese also had challenges not only with his actors fleshing out their characters, but of the characters themselves being fleshed out in a film that constantly twists and turns and unfolds and characters that aren't quite as they first appear to be.

"I think one of the key elements here is that you care about the person," he says, "And I think what Ben has said is really right in that one of the things I was so surprised about to discover, ultimately, I knew it, but I couldn't verbalize it, that is the loving or the caring or the tenderness that he has for the patients and they all do and the relationship between the patient and the doctor and at times, stern, and at times, you don't know what he's thinking where he's going with it, why he's saying certain things, why he's behaving a certain way, is he really telling the truth or not? We don't know. But underlying all of this is this very strong relationship of believing in this therapy, believing in it. And we all know from James Gilliam, the

"Scorsese's Island"

doctor, that he does, for example, believe in a talk therapy. He's a doctor and he's been working this way for the past 45 years. He's a technical advisor. He talked to one person, a convicted killer, who was insane, who behaved like an animal ultimately. And yet, one day, he saw something and said, when you could talk to him, it was very interesting, and it took 25 years, the person's not out of jail, of course, but there's humanity there, there's still a human being there, there's a heart there somewhere."

"And there was people saying, oh, drug him, do this, give him a lobotomy, this and that," Martin continues, "He's just kept working on them. There's one, not all that successful, there's no doubt. And so, this was very interesting to me. So he could be going through anything he wants, but he's the person who cares about it, he's one who cares about it and guides it. And if you look at the film and you look at it a few times, you'll see there's certain elements when Chuck and Teddy are out in the woods, on the cliff. Well, what are the doctors doing, in terms of the story? Why does Chuck leave? All of these elements come together in terms of everyone caring for him and trying to pull him through and even understanding his decision at the end, even understanding it sadly."

Finally, Martin discusses the many influences that shaped Shutter Island from classic filmmakers ranging from Val Lewton to Jacques Tourneur to Mario Bava.

"Well, there's always that Mario Bava, the sort of singularity, that use of very powerful colors," Scorsese explains, "I mean, he's a wonderful cinematographer and I always loved the thriller/horror films that he made in the late fifties/early sixties and I keep referring to them, Black Sunday, the trilogy, Black Sabbath, they call it, but some remarkable stuff and there's no doubt about that. But in

"Scorsese's Island"

Bava's use of less being more, the use of a little bit of mist, in a way, a twisted branch, that sort of thing, that's something I always use for a little bit of inspiration in a way. But the Lewton films are really the key films, there's no way it's on that kind of level, this is a different kind of picture, but there's no doubt in certain scenes in the mansion, Val Lewton's films that had terrible titles we all know, The Cat People and I Walked With A Zombie, those two being directed by Jacques Tourneur, are beautiful works of poetry and I always talk about these films. Out Of The Past is another one. That's not a Val Lewton film, but it's directed by Tourneur, and that I showed them Out Of The Past by Robert Mitchum and Jane Greer."

"All three films to me, they're very modest, but they have to do with memory and time and I don't know," he adds, "I look at these films. I look at them repeatedly and I don't know what's the beginning, middle, or the end. I can't tell you what scene it is. It's like a piece of music. I keep listening to or looking at it and it's kind of new every time and it has a lot to do with certainly the pictorialism of Tourneur, I Walked With A Zombie is really Jane Eyre in the Indies. We all know it was a terrible title. The Cat People is a very beautiful film. You can take it on a supernatural level or you can take it on a level of suggestion. It's all about suggestion, you see. And of course, Out Of The Past is the web. It's the net that's cast for this poor guy who says at one point, 'Build my gallows high, baby!' He knows he's doomed from the beginning and you watch Mitchum go through it.

"Scorsese's Island"

And I never know, is it Kirk Douglas's character, is it Jane Greer who is doing all this? I never quite know. He seems to be doing it to himself in a way. But, It's about memory and so is this, to a certain extent, the memory. And these were inspirations. I can't reach that level of Tourneur. He was remarkable."