Martin Scorsese is not known as a horror director, he usually makes crime films with a religious theme or religious films with an even stronger religious theme. However, he has made several films that have enough of a scary atmosphere to be classified as chilling thrillers to horror. Probably the closest thing to a horror movie is 2010’s Cursed Island, in which Leonardo DiCaprio plays Agent Teddy Daniels, who goes to a prison for mentally disturbed criminals on a remote island.
Martin Scorsese and Leonardo DiCaprio wanted to make another movie first
Martin Scorsese and Leonardo DiCaprio originally planned to make The Wolf of Wall Street together immediately after Hidden Identity, about a corrupt stockbroker. But they couldn’t secure the required $100 million budget for the film so quickly, so they decided to shoot the cursed island first instead.
The conclusion is foreshadowed throughout the film
Martin Scorsese filled the first few acts of the film with hints and intentional plot errors to foreshadow the film’s surprise conclusion. These cues were also included in the dream sequences to show the similarity between what Teddy perceives as a dream and what he perceives as reality.
Cursed Island is the only collaboration between Scorsese and DiCaprio without an Oscar nomination
Scorsese, cast and crew spent four months of 2008 filming Cursed Island, two years before the film finally hit theaters. This film is the only film that Martin Scorsese and Leonardo DiCaprio worked on together that did not receive an Oscar nomination.
This may have been due to Paramount’s decision to move the release date from October 2009 to February 2010 in order to use its annual Oscar campaign budget for I’m Flying in It and A Strong Bond.
Part of the film was to be shot on 65mm film strip
Scorsese originally planned to shoot the dream sequences in the Dachau concentration camp on 65mm film. This would be the first of five major films from around 2010 that were to be shot on 65mm format, the other films being The Master, Dunkirk, Murder on the Orient Express and The Horrible Eight.
Unfortunately, the second shooting on 65mm film the cameras stopped working. Only a few shots of Teddy walking through the camp in civilian clothes made it into the film.
The movie could have been called Ashecliffe
During filming, the producers considered calling the film Ashecliffe after the setting where the treatment center is located. The book the movie was based on, written by Dennis Lehane and published in 2003, was called Cursed Island.
Inspiration zombie movies
When looking for inspiration for the film’s visual style and tone, Martin Scorsese was influenced by Val Lewton’s zombie films of the 1940s. Before filming, he also screened the films Vertigo and Out of the Past for the cast and crew to get an idea of what he was up to.
David Fincher almost made a movie with Brad Pitt and Mark Wahlberg
Martin Scorsese was not the first director to join the film. The film rights to the book were originally optioned for Wolfgang Petersen to direct. But Petersen wanted to significantly alter Dennis Lehane’s book so that his adaptation could be shot as an action blockbuster.
When plans with Petersen fell through, the producers offered the project to David Fincher. Fincher planned to cast Brad Pitt, with whom he worked on Fight Club, Seven and The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, and Mark Wahlberg in the lead roles.
Source: imdb.com, movieweb.com
Author: Martina Šťastná
