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Scorsese's Island |
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Master filmmaker MARTIN SCORSESE brings Dennis Lahane’s thriller SHUTTER ISLAND to the screen. |
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What was it about Dennis Lehane’s book, Shutter Island, that inspired you to make this movie?
MARTIN SCORSESE: I actually read the script first, and then read the book. The script has a different ending to the book. I was interested in Teddy Daniels’ (Leonardo DiCaprio) journey, his acceptance of responsibility, how he handles his guilt, how he overcomes his violence ultimately, and what it is to have such a life, and then make a choice that you feel that’s better for yourself. I thought that was interesting.
Did you like the general theme about mental illness as well?
MARTIN SCORSESE: Not necessarily. No. But what I liked about it, what attracted me to it, was perception – the difference of perception of reality, of a person who could be ill, might be ill, is ill, is not feeling well just for that day, (laughs) who’s had some problems with maybe drugs or alcohol and things like that, and perceives life a certain way and then clears up a year later and realises ‘Oh my, it wasn’t that way at all’. It’s interesting how you approach these scenes, visually. And with the actors, so it was a big, risky game each scene. A puzzle.
You have worked with Leo on quite a few films now. Has the relationship changed over time?
MARTIN SCORSESE: I think the work is getting more intense. I mean this film, I must say, was very difficult for him. There was so much to uncover, and the more we did uncover, the further there was to go. We would try things we hadn’t even thought of. It was really very complex and he’s so dedicated and so, it was like living in that world for a long time.
It doesn’t sound like it would be a good place to be.
MARTIN SCORSESE: No, it wasn’t, no. And then he finally left, that was it, he finally finished shooting, it was good. I remember we just looked at each other and said, ‘OK, great’, hugged each other, said ‘Thank you’, I thanked the crew, and that was it. I went home. That was it, I didn’t see anybody for like two months. Leo went away and then when he came back from looping some scenes, he would look up at the screen and say ‘Oh, that scene, what a horrible day, I remember we went through hell on that day’. Another scene would come up, he goes, ‘Oh, that was worse!‘ (laughs) And each scene that came up he would go, ‘Oh, this was terrible!’ (laughs). The agony, the vomiting, the running through the forest, I mean, just hard, hard, hard work and then, it was just one of those things we hadn’t anticipated. We were like two novices going into this world of claustrophobia.
Will you work with Leo again?
MARTIN SCORSESE: Oh yeah, I hope so. We’re looking for something right now. Yeah, definitely.
From what you say, it was quite a tough film to make. Was there anything about it you enjoyed?
MARTIN SCORSESE: No, I didn’t enjoy it at all (laughs). That’s me though, I mean we’d be laughing on the set sometimes, but it was a really tough one. And The Departed felt the same way.
Considering the pain you all went through, what was the mood like on this set?
MARTIN SCORSESE: It was good, it was positive, until the last few weeks. The last few weeks got difficult for all of us because we were subjected to the weather and the weather was bad and it just didn’t let up. And every time we made a decision, a very, very thoughtful one guided by weather bureau reports and satellite information, and we moved trucks and people to a location, it inevitably turned out wrong (laughs). So we’d just start laughing, ‘OK, now what do we do? OK, regroup’, and that’s what also made it become like a real heavy chore, for all the actors too, because it was really working uphill all the time. But, that worked for the performances.
I was going to just say that the agony and pain would feed into the performances.
MARTIN SCORSESE: Yes. There’s a scene where Leo is with Jackie (Earle Haley) and Leo says, “I don’t know where I am, man”. We did it like 20 times. It was Friday night, I’m shooting all week, trying to shoot, and the weather was killing us, and by that point, you actually see that it’s all there in Leo’s face. He just couldn’t take any more. And he was laughing. He said, ‘I hope that was good’, I said, ‘Nah, I’ll do it again, it’s okay’ (laughs).
Why are your films such tough work?
MARTIN SCORSESE: There’s other directors that find it tough, but they don’t complain about it. Me, I like to complain (laughs). That’s part of the fun of it. It does become at times like a Monty Python. But actually, sometimes when it gets that tough, it’s really good because everybody pulls together. It was tough another way on The Departed, we kept being knocked out of different locations, we have actors who are leaving all the time for different pictures, and it was crazy. And also, it was crazy in the sense of how do you approach this material that you’ve been associated with in the past in a different way, a different place, that sort of thing and any event, all the different levels they have too, of Leo and Matt (Damon), Vera (Farmiga) and Jack (Nicholson). Shutter Island was really physical. I actually went rock climbing at 7:15 in the morning…
To look for a shot?
MARTIN SCORSESE: To look for a shot, yeah.
Where were you for that? What scene?
MARTIN SCORSESE: You know the scene where they are climbing the rocks. Leo climbs a rock, it was that rock. When I was up there I said to myself ‘What the hell am I doing?
When things like the weather do not turn out as planned do you get angry?
MARTIN SCORSESE: A couple of times you get angry, but at a certain point, how upset can you get? You have to go on, and so it becomes that kind of thing. Shooting anything that would give me a time limit, I don’t like it. I just did a TV pilot for HBO…
Oh, the Mark Wahlberg-produced one.
MARTIN SCORSESE: Yeah, Boardwalk Empire. I shot it in 30 days, and it will be like an hour and twenty minutes, so we moved fast. That was great. But the complaining thing is actually part of the humour. They are war stories. They are funny. There would be wind and rain and people were being hit with everything, debris, and I was in a little van, so I didn’t get hit (laughs). I would ask for another take, but it got to the point, they couldn’t even see each other, the actors, the rain got so heavy.
There were some extraordinary scenes in Shutter Island, like the sequence with Michelle Williams and the ash.
MARTIN SCORSESE: Oh the ash in the room. That was in the script, and I think obviously comes from the book, but the ash was there, that’s real ash. We did tests and tests with different kinds of ash and that was the best one, then there was some digital enhancement, but not much.
The rat scene was also memorable.
MARTIN SCORSESE: Again, the rats were in the script. We had about 100, we added some more later, but we had about 100 (laughs).
How was Leo is with rats? It was hard to watch…
MARTIN SCORSESE: He didn’t like it. That was one of the tougher days. Or I should say weeks (laughs). Especially when he put his hand out and one of them touched it. The rats were actually great. They were handled very well. We had to be very careful not to hurt any.
Is your Sinatra bio-pic still a possibility?
MARTIN SCORSESE: Yes it is. We’re going to try. Phil Alden Robinson wrote the script.
Did you know Frank?
MARTIN SCORSESE: No. I met him once in LA and spoke to him on the phone, once or twice, that’s it.
And have you got an actor in mind to play Frank?
MARTIN SCORSESE: No, not yet. It’s tricky, and you’ve got to use his voice, you cannot have anybody else. There’s no way (laughs). I don’t care what you say.
Discover Martin Scorsese's Shutter Island on DVD or Blu-ray at JB Hi-Fi » |
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