Shutter speed

BEING introduced as “the greatest living director in America” might be daunting for some film-makers, but not Martin Scorsese, someone many would consider deserving of such a label. He shrugs it off lightheartedly, commenting: “I didn’t say that, I’m not saying that and I want the press to remember that.”

All he can do is the best work he can. “I need to work, I like to work. Although I complain about it, I like it,” he says.

“I just need to make the best film I can. I can’t think of awards. It would be nice if the film is recognised, but once you’re in the thick of it you just try to get through it and make something of it, so you can say, ‘yes, I directed that film’ and be happy with that film.”

His latest work, the psychological thriller Shutter Island, is an expertly-crafted, wellacted drama. Unlikely to be counted among Scorsese’s best work, the film does look like becoming his most commercially successful.

The Fifties-set story has Leonardo Di- Caprio’s US marshal investigating a disappearance at an island prison for the criminally insane. This marks the pair’s fourth collaboration following The Gangs Of New York, The Aviator and The Departed, with Di- Caprio seemingly taking over from Robert De Niro as Scorsese’s actor of choice.

It’s an unlikely director/actor relationship that has reaped rich rewards for both. Scorsese has attracted acclaim for films such as Raging Bull, Taxi Driver, Goodfellas and Casino, but DiCaprio has helped boost his box office appeal and prove himself a serious actor.

The actor was certainly grateful to have Scorsese guiding him through the madhouse that is Shutter Island, in a role that was demanding both physically and emotionally.

“By sheer necessity to survive this film-making process, I do switch off when I go home,”

says DiCaprio. “Ultimately, I’m challenged by these types of characters. This is maybe the most challenging one to date for me. Physically, yes, but emotionally, more so.

“This character is very difficult to talk about because we want the audience to have a virgin experience. We were very conscious we were doing a film that could take on different meanings.”

He seems to be attracted to very driven, complex characters. So are we likely to see him in a comedy or a romance? “You mean lighten up in general?’ he queries.

“I don’t know, really. I just respond to what I read and what I’ve read in these roles is characters who’ve moved me emotionally in some respect. That’s going back to what moved me in cinema at an early age.

“I’m driven, in my mind, to some day emulate or try to get close to the masterworks of great performers that I’ve seen in cinema from years past. I don’t know whether that thirst will ever be quenched.”

Scorsese, who arrives for the interview inexplicably clutching a bundle of papers like a lawyer on his way into court, can’t help elaborating about trying your best – and in the process provides a masterclass in directing.

“Sometimes you go in with one point in mind and one desire. In the case of The Aviator, it was to make a Hollywood spectacle. But quickly, by the second or third week of shooting, you just want to survive it,” he says.

“Don’t forget, I also go through the editing process as well and then you have to talk about it. I take it all very seriously.”

He brought his vast knowledge of old Hollywood movies to bear in making Shutter Island.

He reels off a list of film titles that influenced his approach.

He goes into a shoot with a good idea of what he wants to achieve. “The mood and tone of the picture and the atmosphere is in my head. It’s in my blood once I decide to make a picture. I have to find my way to choose and emphasise certain visual elements and sound,” he says.

That’s when he calls in his collaborators, including the director of photography and the composer. “There might be one shot I want to discuss with them, but they’re reference points. It’s a constant process of pulling together the imagery. I was rather shaken by all the green trees…”

Hang on, Scorsese frightened of trees? Surely not. But filming on an island off the coast of Boston in an abandoned gothic hospital did upset him, the cause dating back to childhood.

“As a kid I used to love to watch westerns because you could see the outdoors. But I had asthma and couldn’t go anywhere so I went to the movies in Technicolor,” he explains.

‘YOU’D see landscapes, Monument Valley, forests. It was fantastic, but I could never go there. But on Shutter Island, we did. I was rock climbing at seven in the morning at one point, which was quite unique.”

While the director was worrying about the trees, his leading man was coping with portraying a man with psychological problems in front of the camera. There was a sombre mood going home each day because he was dealing with emotional extremes.

“For the most part I do like to isolate myself from people when I’m filming. So I wouldn’t necessarily get much of a reaction from anyone else because I was mostly alone,” he says.

“I remember towards the end of filming when we were pushing this guy further and further, re-enacting a traumatic event that was either a dream or reality. I remember saying, ‘where am I? What’s going on?’.

“It’s great to have a guide or a mentor, someone you trust in these situations because you’re making yourself vulnerable.

“Because of the relationship and the years we’ve worked together, that trust level was there. I’m glad I got to do this character and this film very specifically with Marty as the film-maker.”

■ Shutter Island (15) is now showing in cinemas.