Adapting Shutter Island

If tasked with making a production of Shutter Island  the first thing to find is what type of adaption it should be. The book could work as a t.v.show with its constant twists and cliff hangers, however it is a show that would only last for a season, which many studios don't find favorable. In this case that would make the best adaption choice for this book to be a movie. In adapting Shutter Island  by Dennis Lehane the three most essential elements would be choosing the scenes to keep and which to cut, casting the actor, and the soundtrack selections.

The most important choice, I believe, would be the actors. In choosing the actors you need to find a person who is believable, can form to the role, and is somebody the readers and author can see in the role. In this book the actor has to be able to play like they are a hardened war veteran who has suffered traumatic loss and coping with recovering alcoholism. On the surface the actor needs to appear fine and collected but underneath it all he is struggling deeply with his internal demons (Looking at you Leonardo DiCaprio).These elements are essential in order to be able to adequately perform the role of Teddy Daniels. If even one characteristic is missing the character is going to seem off and out of place. Each character has many minute details that are essential for each actor to embody. If a simple twitch isn't shown the movie will lose important characteristics embodies in the book.

In order for the themes to be accurately captured the soundtrack is essential. It needs to be able to frighten and shock the readers as the book did. The soundtrack should be suspenseful and electrifying. If there is no suspense in the music then the movie will be boring.  Nothing will surprise readers or even people viewing the movie for the first time. In  any scary movie when ever there is a twist or shocking moment there is an equally impressive musical score to go with it. Without it the movie is simply bland and unappealing to audiences.

In Shutter Island there are not many scenes that would be able to be cut. As a matter-of-fact nearly every scene would have to be transferred to the big screen. The reason for this is because of the number of twists and turns the book has. Even what appear to be the most minor of scenes will come into play later on in the movie. A simple look at somebody's hands or way a person says something is essential to finding your way through this labyrinth of a book. If anything were removed from movie it would lead to much confusion from the audience, which is not good storytelling. In the end all twists should be wrapped up leaving the audience in awe as to how they didn't see such a thing coming.

To end this post here is a picture of Brad Pitt