Cinema Science

Another week another Leonardo DiCaprio and Martin Scorsese project. They appear to have settled on an adaptation of Dennis Lehane's 2003 novel Shutter Island.

Set in 1954, the film would feature DiCaprio as Teddy Daniels, a U.S. marshal who investigates the disappearance of a woman from a Boston-area hospital for the criminally insane. Other Lehane novels have been adapted into acclaimed movies, including Mystic River and Gone Baby Gone (I will be seeing this soon).

DiCaprio and Scorsese's three films together — The Departed, Gangs of New York, and The Aviator — have amassed a combined 26 Oscar nominations. I rewatched Gangs of New York yesterday and have to say that it is actually better than I remembered it, much better. It also features and awesome performance by Daniel Day Lewis.

UPDATE: Here is a little more information about the book from Amazon.com. This description makes it sound much better, not so much like your common, standard thriller.

In summer 1954, two U.S. marshals, protagonist Teddy Daniels and his new partner, Chuck Aule, arrive on Shutter Island, not far from Boston, to investigate the disappearance of patient Rachel Solando from the prison/hospital for the criminally insane that dominates the island. The marshals' digging gets them nowhere fast as they learn of Rachel's apparently miraculous escape past locked doors and myriad guards, and as they encounter roadblocks and lies strewn across their path-most notably by the hospital's chief physician, the enigmatic J. Cawley-and pick up hints of illegal brain surgery performed at the hospital. Then, as a major hurricane bears down on the island, inciting a riot among the insane and cutting off all access to the mainland, they begin to fear for their lives. All of the characters-particularly Teddy, haunted by the tragic death of his wife-are wonderful creations, but no more wonderful than the spot-on dialogue with which Lehane brings them to life and the marvelous prose that enriches the narrative. There are mysteries within mysteries in this novel, some as obvious as the numerical codes that the missing patient leaves behind and which Teddy, a code breaker in WWII, must solve; some as deep as the most profound fears of the human heart. There is no mystery, however, about how good this book is; like Mystic River, it's a tour de force.

Part of me really hopes Scorsese gets one of his Departed co-stars (Matt Damon or Mark Wahlberg) to play Dicaprio's partner.