Books have long been the inspiration for feature films. From The Wizard of Oz (L. Frank Baum) to The Shining (Stephen King) to No Country for Old Men (Cormac McCarthy), novelists have become the de facto screenplay writers for Hollywood. Today, one of the busiest writers in the film-adaptation game is Dennis Lehane, best known for his books-turned-films Mystic River, Gone Baby Gone and recently Shutter Island.
DigitalJournal.com interviewed Lehane, 45, in advance of Shutter Island‘s DVD release on June 8. Lehane couldn’t help but speak excitedly when he talked about the film, saying director Martin Scorcese excelled at making the thriller come to life. “Scorcese put his visual fever into the film,” he says. “This film is as unique as they come.”
How closely did Lehane work with producers and writers and Scorcese to bring Shutter Island to the silver screen? Lehane said he steps away from that creative process because once a novelist consults with screenplay writers in the pre=-production phase, “it’s time to step away.” He adds, “I’m sure [Scorcese] doesn’t want me breathing down his neck, much like no one breathed down my neck when I was writing the book.”
Shutter Island stars Leonardo Dicaprio as a federal agent determined to investigate strange occurrences at the Ashecliffe Hospital for the Criminally Insane. Without giving too much away, Shutter Island is rife with plot twists and flashbacks to World War II, with the past love interest played by Michelle Williams.
Lehane said the idea for the novel, published in 2003, came to him in a dream. All of it? “The entire story, in a dream,” Lehane confirms. “I got up and wrote it all down. Every storyline and setting.”
Lehane grew up in Boston, where he soon became a teacher but later found a passion for writing crime and thriller novels. His first book, A Drink Before the War, was published in 1994, and he later penned Gone Baby Gone, Mystic River and Shutter Island. In 2004, Lehane joined the writing staff of the HBO drama series The Wire for the third season.
Speaking about other authors and their film adaptations, Lehane doesn’t have any love for novelists who complain about their novels-turned-films. “It’s like the guy who comes out of the whorehouse complaining that he didn’t feel loved.” He pauses, then explains. “We’re not babes in the woods. We know the process. We take the money, they invest in an interpretation of our work and we just shut up.”
Authors can feel enraged if they don’t like the film versions of their work, Lehane says. Look at how Stephen King denounced The Shining starring Jack Nicholson. Lehane cites the example of Anne Rice complaining about Interview with a Vampire: “I find it crass and disingenuous. Sure, authors are justified to be angry but they shouldn’t storm microphones just to get publicity.”
What’s next for Lehane fans to anticipate in the coming months? In November, the sequel to the book Gone Baby Gone will be released. Moonlight Mile takes place several years after the, well, we don’t want to ruin Gone in case you haven’t read it (the film was directed by Ben Affleck and starred Casey, Amy Ryan and Morgan Freeman).
In the film adaptation market, Lehane is working on a screenplay based on one of his short stories. He describes the story as a “weird little beast where a man finds a dog in the trash and the puppy’s previous owner wants to reclaim the pet as his own.”
