this looks so good. I have been waiting for a year now to see this.

You wait and then they go and delay it until February.

Scorsese suuuure slicked it all up. Very sophisticated and I can't wait to see it.

The adapted screenplay is from the woman who wrote the Bionic Woman pilot and Birds of Prey for CW.

Well he did in a way approach his Cape Fear remake as a slasher (an intellectual, adult slasher...)

February?! What? Thats redic.

I guess it feels so long because like The Time Travelers Wife i have waited to see it since the casting.

<p>

<span style="font-size:19.5pt;"><font face="Verdana">Exclusive Interview: Laeta Kalogridis, Shutter Island</font></span>

<span style="font-size:7.5pt;"><b><font face="Tahoma">Posted by: Sheila Roberts </font></b></span>

<span style="font-size:9pt;"><font face="Verdana">Laeta Kalogridis is a talented writer and producer who is very much in demand these days. She has the distinction of working with two of America’s most acclaimed directors this past year: Oscar winners Martin Scorsese and James Cameron. MoviesOnline talked exclusively with Kalogridis in New York about her latest film, the Scorsese thriller “Shutter Island,” which is based on the 2003 novel by Dennis Lehane and stars Leonardo DiCaprio, Mark Ruffalo, Sir Ben Kingsley, Michelle Williams and Max von Sydow. Set in 1954, the story centers on two U.S. Marshals who are summoned to a remote and barren island off the coast of Massachusetts to investigate the mysterious disappearance of a murderess from the island’s fortress-like hospital for the criminally insane. Kalogridis wrote the screenplay and also served as an executive producer on the film.

In 2004, Kalogridis co-wrote “Alexander” with Oliver Stone and the English adaptation of the screenplay for “Night Watch” with Timur Bekmambetov. Her feature credits also include Marcus Nispel’s “Pathfinder” and Wes Craven’s “Scream 3.” Most recently, she shared an executive producer credit on “Avatar” with James Cameron with whom she has collaborated for almost a decade, rewriting and polishing scripts for a variety of projects. They include “The Dive,” about freediver Francisco "Pipin" Ferraras and his wife, Audrey Mestre, and “Battle Angel,” an adaptation of Yukito Kishiro's popular manga. For television, she wrote the pilot and developed the TV series for “Birds of Prey” and “The Bionic Woman” and served as the executive producer on both.

Laeta Kalogridis talked to us about the challenges of adapting the complex storyline of “Shutter Island” to the big screen, what it was like to collaborate in the same year with two visionary directors, and her upcoming projects: the horror film “Demonkeeper,” the popular Japanese manga “Ghost in the Shell” which she is currently adapting into a live-action feature film for Steven Spielberg, and a possible collaboration with James Cameron on an “Avatar” sequel.

Q: Can you talk about the genesis of this project and how you came to write the screenplay for Shutter Island?

LK: It’s a novel by Dennis Lehane. It’s a one off, unlike a lot of his other books. He’s written some series but this was a one off book. It had been optioned by Sony and my friend, Brad Fischer, who is Mike Medavoy’s producing partner, called me one day and said, “There’s this really amazing book you should read,” and he sent it to me and I was blown away by it. It’s an incredible read. It’s just beautifully written. The characters are amazing. It’s wonderful. I called him back and said, “Where is this book?,” and he said “It’s actually about to fall out of option at Sony,” which by the way is totally different than turnaround. People keep saying it was in turnaround. I feel compelled to point out that it wasn’t. They let the option lapse because they weren’t able to come up with an approach that they were happy with. When they did that, Brad and I went to Dennis Lehane’s agent and talked to her about what we’d like to do with it. Dennis agreed to option it to Mike Medavoy, to Brad’s partner, for me. I wrote it essentially on spec in exchange for a promise from Brad and Mike that I would be left alone creatively to do whatever I wanted to. When you read it, you’ll see, it was quite challenging to adapt, which was the reason it hadn’t actually succeeded at Sony as an adaptation. I wanted to have the artistic, creative freedom to do what I thought was best to translate the novel because this is quite challenging source material and what it’s actually about is pretty harrowing. We finished it. Brad and Mike gave me their thoughts. We did a couple of revisions and then we sent it to Marty (Scorsese) who liked it and that’s pretty much what happened.

Q: What were some of the unusual challenges presented by the novel and how did you approach those?

LK: I can cite a very specific one actually. I was trying to integrate the many traumas that Teddy has survived – you know, the death of his wife, the Dachau experience – trying to find a way to navigate showing what’s happened to him in his life without overwhelming the story with both detail. I think you can become numb to certain kinds of horrific emotion if they’re played too heavily, if they’re written too heavily. Finding a way to integrate Dolores and Dachau was extremely challenging. Ultimately, what we ended up doing was sort of bridging his different pasts into this one kind of horrific subconscious expression that becomes more and more a waking expression as time goes on and starts a stream that starts to become real to him and is actually happening in front of him. It was, we felt, the best solution to both communicating his past in a really visceral, visual way and streamlining the storytelling so you didn’t feel like you were stopping every 5 seconds to kind of go back to something that had happened in the past.

Q: Can you talk about your role as Executive Producer and what that entailed?

LK: Marty is an unbelievably generous human being and a pretty generous director. It entailed me being on set for most of the filming. It was an amazing experience actually. It was really an amazing experience to get to see the actors work, to get to see the way that he directs, to get to see the intensity of how he throws himself into every aspect of the filmmaking. My role largely, even as an E.P., was a creative role. In terms of did I do any of the things that EP’s often do, like go and look for funding? No, I didn’t. Everything I did was creative and had to do primarily with the script and with the look. We talked a lot about…let me rephrase that…not the look of the movie but the characters. What are they wearing at a certain time? What kind of clothes? Should the little girl be dirty or should she be clean? When she’s in Dachau, how is she dressed? When she’s in the train car, how is she dressed? Very small, tiny, specific stuff like that.

Q: Did you have any input in terms of the casting or was that largely in place?

LK: (Laughs) I wouldn’t have needed input. My input goes something like this: Marty would say, “So, Leo’s interested.” And I would kind of fall down. And then he would say, “And Sir Ben has decided to come on board” and I would fall down again. It was a series of just me kind of falling down. It’s a phenomenal cast and the cast is there because of Marty and I hope to some degree because of the material. I would say the only influence that I had in terms of casting was to be incredibly grateful and hopefully to have generated something that attracted them, you know, along with Marty. But I think we all know that the biggest draw is always going to be working with this filmmaker. He’s incredible.

Q: How did working with Martin Scorsese on “Shutter Island” compare to working with James Cameron on “Avatar”?

LK: Well it’s very much apples to oranges because they are such different people. I have to say “Avatar” has been such a rewarding experience. I mean, I wrote “Shutter Island” while we were filming “Avatar.” That’s how long “Avatar” has been going on. I’ve been doing “Avatar” for 4-1/2 years. In terms of working experience, I can certainly say that one of them was longer and I can also say that… I mean, I love Jim. I love Jim. I’ve actually been working with him off and on for a little over 8 years now and we’ve written two other scripts together. It was different primarily in that obviously the personalities of the two directors are very different, but they’re both exceedingly focused perfectionists with very singular visions. So, in that way, it’s similar. But obviously, in terms of their directing style, they’re just very different men. I tell people I’ll never have another year like the year where I got to work with both of them. I’ll never have another year like that because everything about both experiences was wonderful for me.

Q: What did you enjoy most about being involved with “Shutter Island”?

LK: It’s hard to pick out one thing. For example, you can say okay, getting to work with Martin Scorsese, and then you stop and say well getting to work with Leo, and then you stop and say well getting to work with Michelle and getting to work with Mark Ruffalo, and then Max von Sydow comes on stage. There really isn’t a point at which you don’t stop pinching yourself. I would have to say that, for me, the whole experience, the sum of the whole experience from start to finish was what was wonderful about it. Almost never as a writer do you get to conceive of something that you want to do, actually write it the way you want to write it, get a director who you are dreaming of working with interested in the material and then have the director invite you along in the process to participate all the way through. That just doesn’t happen. And frankly, I think it’s such a testament to Marty that he is old fashioned in that way. I mean, you won’t see a Martin Scorsese film that has a list of five writers on it. That’s just not how he works. I think it’s a pity that people don’t look at the value of that kind of collaboration.

Q: What would you like an audience to take from this film?

LK: Probably two things actually. A sense of real empathy for people who are different than we are because every inmate in that institution is a human being and I really feel like Cawley’s (Dr. Cawley played by Ben Kingsley) perspective on that is something that I quite agree with and that we all bear collective responsibility for everything that happens in our society including too the people who we lock up and don’t look at.

Q: Do you have any advice for a new generation that aspires to be a screenwriter or a producer and do what you’ve done? If you could go back, is there anything you would do differently?

LK: I wouldn’t actually. Really. And I’ve had some fairly spectacular failures (laughs), but I think you learn as much from the failures as you do from the successes. I wouldn’t take away any of them. I think my advice would be, as strange as this sounds, to not limit yourself by what you think you can do or what you think the market will accept. Certainly “Shutter Island” was not a book that a lot of people were clamoring for at that time. It was very dark and it had elements that people found disturbing. You should still choose to do what really speaks to your heart and not worry about any kind of conventional wisdom.

Q: Can you talk about your upcoming projects? I know you’ve got “Demonkeeper.” Is that in the horror genre?

LK: It’s not really. It’s more of a fun horror movie than a straight up horror movie. It’s certainly not a hostile kind of horror movie. (Laughs) It’s a little bit of a – in my mind anyway – a throwback to the really fun movies when I was a kid, those great Amblin films like “Gremlins.” I mean, you know, just the really wonderful kind of family movie that you can take [the kids to] that has the scary stuff for kids but that everyone can enjoy. I have children so I really like the idea of something we can all go see together. “Shutter Island” would not be that movie. (Laughs) Not until later. No. And also, I’m writing “Ghost in the Shell” for DreamWorks for Steven Spielberg.

Q: Is that a remake of the 1995 film or is that an adaptation of the earlier manga?

LK: “Ghost in the Shell” was originally the manga. The anime came from the original graphic novel and then -- and that anime, as you know, is a relatively famous, groundbreaking piece of material -- also generated two seasons of an animated television show as well. And this is an adaptation of the original manga, the original comic book that sort of began everything.

Q: It sounds like it’s going to be a really intelligent, visually cool sci-fi film. Do you see this as possibly paving the way for more live action adaptations of anime and mangas in Hollywood?

LK: I can’t really speak to the trend because certainly a lot of the stateside comic book sources and even U.K. comics that have been mined, I think there’s always room for new source material just like people. I also think that a lot of the themes of anime as an art form are much more adult and darker than what people sometimes associate with the kinds of four-quadrant movies. For me, I don’t really know the answer to that, but I do think that Bill Gibson’s vision of an Eastern-informed West, where so much of our cultural reference points start to come from this shared literary history, I think that that’s definitely happening. And so, as mythos kind of evolves, and I think anime and manga are slowly becoming a big part of our mythos, I think yes, they’re sort of a natural fit for films.

Q: Do you see yourself working on the “Avatar” sequel?

LK: (Laughs) You’ll have to call Jim.

“Shutter Island” opens in theaters on February 19^th.</font></span>

<span style="font-size:10.5pt;"><b><font face="Tahoma">http://www.moviesonline.ca/movienews_17717.html</font></b></span></p>

I'm still confused why this is being called slasher?

To create and accentuate the oh-so-visible contrast between what he usually does and what he did here. Even though slasher is in the realm of incorrect.

You have such a way with words I actually would say his remake of Cape Fear (a movie I don't think is really a success on its own terms) is more of a slasher--although I admit I'm prety anal about the term cuz I wrote a paper about the two big "Slasher cycles" (post Halloween and post Scream) and comparing their audience demos for a film course ages back--where I meant slashers as specifically movies where there's a teeanged body count, a masked mysterious killer, POV killer shots, etc.

You have such a way with words

I do?

So you did a paper on slasher films... And a master's thesis on Agnes Nixon?

Seriously, I am very excited about this film, cannot wait to see it.

I've been excited to see this movie since I first heard about it early last year. Mainly due to the fact that it is Scorcese doing a different type of film compared to what he has done these last few years. I worry though because it was pushed back to 2010, and out of the 2009 Oscar race that it may fall a bit flat. I still plan to see it though!

A possible soap connection, but in the trailer I am POSITIVE Jill Larson (Opal, AMC) has a small part, but can't find her listed anywhere in the credits on imdb.com. You be the judge.

Edited February 14, 201015 yr by Adam

I worry though because it was pushed back to 2010, and out of the 2009 Oscar race that it may fall a bit flat.

Falling flat as in – how? Why would pushing it out of the race diminish its quality? Or you were talking about the box office?

Falling flat as in – how? Why would pushing it out of the race diminish its quality? Or you were talking about the box office?

In recent past when movies have been promoted as Oscar contenders only to have a relase date pushed back to Feb. or March, more often than not there was a reason. I am thinking a recent example of this is The Soloist from last year. It was pumped up as an oscar contender, the release was pushed back and I can honestly say it was probably one of the worst movies in 2009.

Shutter Island does look amazing though, so I am HOPEFUL that isn't the case here. I was just saying history has proven in these situations there is sometimes a reason they are pushed back.

The music should not be missed:

On the weekend of February 19th, and for some weeks thereafter, millions of Americans will enjoy a program of Giacinto Scelsi, John Cage, Lou Harrison, György Ligeti, Morton Feldman, Krzysztof Penderecki, Alfred Schnittke, Nam June Paik, Ingram Marshall, and John Adams. This fairly bold lineup of composers, which would cause the average orchestra subscriber to flee in terror, appears on the soundtrack to Martin Scorsese's film "Shutter Island."

Scorsese's music supervisor is Robbie Robertson, the former lead guitarist of The Band, who has consulted on many of the director's movies, notably "Raging Bull" and "The King of Comedy." "This may be the most outrageous and beautiful soundtrack I've ever heard," Robertson says, in a press release. It's hard to argue with the claim, given that the playlist includes Cage's "Music for Marcel Duchamp," Scelsi's "Uaxuctum," Feldman's "Rothko Chapel," and Ligeti's "Lontano." Ligeti and Penderecki come out of the familiar Kubrick playbook—"Lontano" figured memorably in "The Shining"—but many of the other selections are unexpected, most of all the choice of Mahler's Piano Quartet in A Minor. (Via Bryant Manning.)

http://www.newyorker...and-behold.html

Edited February 14, 201015 yr by Sylph

Looks interesting.