Lehane Revisits Shutter Island

Dennis Lehane shares more of his thoughts on seeing his novel SHUTTER ISLAND transformed into a film.

He tells whatsplaying.au, "The look of the film surprised me. It’s my vision filtered through Martin Scorsese’s consciousness. It’s utterly unique. At every step in the film I was unprepared for how it looked. It was really quite an experience."

In the Houston Chronicle, he elaborates, "I remember the first time I saw one of the dream sequences, I thought, 'Boy he went a little far.' So I went back and checked the book. He didn't go any place I hadn't gone."

EW.com asks him if Scorsese's vision of the island matches his, and he responds:

Yes and no. You come into a filter that is very distinct, and that’s Martin Scorsese's vision, and that’s not necessarily my visual palette. It’s his, and his is a hell of a lot more interesting than mine...I think I saw a much more naturalistic world, whereas he saw a much more surreal world, which works.

Even though their visions of the island differed, Lehane tells the Oklahoman that he was very pleased with how the film turned out:

I loved it, I mean [Scorsese] got it. He got what I was playing with and what I was trying for. And he did cinematically what I did in the language of the novel. The language of the novel is heightened in such a way that you should be aware very early that you're reading a novel, that this is an homage to Gothics, that this is basically a book about being a book in a lot of ways.

And he made a movie about being a movie. The movie is in your face as a movie right from the beginning. You should realize very quickly you're not in the real world, you're in Oz.

He tells G4TV.com that Scorsese remained very true to the book because "you can't remove anything major from the structure of Shutter Island without the entire thing collapsing. It's just, it's not possible. So no major elements were cut...Marty had to be pretty religious to the book while keeping it manageable. That's why it's over two hours long."

In case you were hoping for a big Hollywood sequel, Lehane says on Premiere.com that "the chances of that would be as good as Gladiator 2. I don’t know you just have to ask somebody besides me. I know I’m not writing a Shutter Island 2, let me put it to you that way."

ARLA Ventures Into The Land Of Dreams

ARLA has signed Norwegian crime novelist Vidar Sundstøl's Minnesota Trilogy. The first, LAND OF DREAMS, has been a best-seller in Norway and Iceland and has just been published in the Netherlands, where it sold out its first print run in two weeks. Translation rights have also been sold in Denmark, France, Italy, and Germany. Rave reviews have pronounced it "... dark, powerful and eerily good … fully compatible with Annie Proulx's stories from Wyoming"; "… a powerful tale of a murder in Minnesota [that] is in a class of its own … an amazing novel, regardless of genre"; and "…brilliantly plotted."

Ann will be sending the first 90 pages out to US publishers soon.

Come Say Hello To Never Wave Goodbye Author

We'd like to remind all of our New York-area readers that Doug Magee will be reading and signing his new book at the Park Avenue Borders tonight at 7. If you hurry, you can still get a seat!

NEVER WAVE GOODBYE was in the top 75 in both hardcover and Kindle on the Amazon Psychological and Suspense list yesterday, so it looks like some of you have already picked up a copy for him to sign!

If you still haven't gotten your copy, perhaps the blog Genre Go Round will help persuade you. They called the book "high octane suspense" and said "readers will relish this gut-wrenching drama."

The book has also passed the crucial Page 69 Test.

When Barry Met Dennis

We're very thrilled to tell you that Dennis Lehane's MYSTIC RIVER was nominated for a Barry Award for Best Mystery/Crime Novel of the Decade!

Deadly Pleasures magazine sponsors the award and they'll announce the winner at Bouchercon in San Francisco on October 14.

Lehane On Shutter Island The Film

Shutter Island came out on DVD yesterday, so Dennis Lehane has been busy speaking to the press about the film.

Check out interviews with MovieWeb, Digital Journal, the Calgary Herald, Winnipeg Free Press, Zoomer, Collider, and Fangoria for his take on incredible but somewhat surreal experience of seeing one's novels appear the big screen. You can also catch him on the television programs Good Day Alabama, Talk of Alabama, Fox News First in San Antonio, and Take Five & Company.

Also, if you still don't know what to get your dad for Father's Day, click here.