-By Mark Pilkington

It’s been 19 years since Leonardo DiCaprio made his film debut in the instantly forgotten B-movie that was Critters 3, but since then the actor has grown in stature to become one of Hollywood’s hottest properties. His roles in The Aviator, The Departed and Blood Diamond have cemented his reputation as one of the brightest prospects of his generation.

We met up with the actor in London to discuss his latest project, Martin Scorsese’s Shutter Island, a Paramount thriller based on the book of the same name by Dennis Lehane. DiCaprio stars as Teddy Edwards, an FBI agent who is sent to a remote prison island to investigate the disappearance of one of its inmates. However, things are not all that they seem at the prison, and soon he finds himself caught up in a battle of wills with the governors and wardens who run the island.

As with the DiCaprio starrer The Beach, it’s another film involving an island—any similarities between the films, perhaps? “Yes, it is an interesting coincidence,” he responds. “This is another island, but it’s like the flipside of the same coin. Shutter Island is based in a high-security mental ward with people that are experimented on, to discover new ways of dealing with their mental disabilities. My character is there to investigate what’s really going on. But this movie changes form in a lot of ways. Hopefully, it will surprise a lot of people; certainly it’s going to be an interesting film-going experience. There’s no one that’s going to see this movie and say it’s not interesting.”

Opening on Feb. 19, Shutter Island is DiCaprio’s fourth collaboration with Scorsese after Gangs of New York (2002), The Aviator (2004) and The Departed (2006). Did the fact that the director’s name was attached to the project help make his mind up when considering the role?

“Well, very simply, when you have Martin Scorsese attached to a project, most of the time you just do it! But when you add the fact he was taking on a Hitchcockian type of film genre, to me that is extremely fascinating. I play a psychologically multi-layered character, and there are a lot of things going on simultaneously in this movie. All those elements, along with him, are something I absolutely wanted to be a part of, no questions….You hear all the elements involved, and you just say yes.”

Does he always consider a Martin Scorsese script before any other? “Do I consider it? I take it very seriously, for sure! I think he’s the greatest living filmmaker and every time I get an opportunity to work with him, I feel lucky to do that, so it has a high priority list in my career.”

DiCaprio is quick to point out that working with Scorsese has helped him develop as an actor. “What’s interesting about him is he puts so much trust in you and your opinion, and that’s something that has developed over the years. That trust needs to be earned; from the smallest players to the leads in his movies, you have to come with an agenda. You have to come with an understanding of who that person is, you have to put a lot of thought into it. [Scorsese] navigates through that to find a sort of objective to how the scenes are going to be played.

“He really relies on actors, not necessarily in a way that a lot of directors don’t, but he makes his movies [so that] his actors feel attached to those characters. He makes character pieces. Whatever type of genre, he cares who these people are, as damaged they are and as messed up as they are. He feels the actor’s connection with the character is to be explored and respected, that’s what’s awesome about him.

“I’ve learned so much not only about acting but about the history of cinema,” DiCaprio enthuses, “about his love of cinema as an art form, his influences, the way in which he creates movies, the way in which he has a specific intent for one scene. He will watch endless movies just to try and make that scene his vision. He’s amazing to watch, he’s a master. What can you say? We’re going to look back at the history of cinema and we’re going to see that there are a few people that stand out. To not mention him in this era of filmmaking is just impossible.”

Scorsese is famed for giving his actors reading and viewing lists of films to look at for inspiration, and Shutter Island was no different. “He’ll get you the original print to watch. Because he’s a film archivist, he’s saved hundreds and hundreds of films from the degrading process, and he has a whole library of thousands of movies. He’ll send the print over to where we are and we’ll have a couple of days of screenings to watch certain filmmakers, or specific things for actors to be aware of, different styles. We talk to the cinematographer and production team. It’s like a little learning workshop before we start to make the actual movie.”

So for Shutter Island, what examples were there? “It was a lot of the detective genre: man obsessed, man consumed. I watched Vertigo on my own, but it was the investigative angle that was of interest. You know, tilted hat, throwback to the 1930s detective with a twist. That’s the only way I can describe it—with an obsessive twist. So we watched those genre films. Then we watched a lot of films for lighting and mood—a lot of obscure movies, they usually are very obscure.

“I remember for The Aviator, we watched House of Wax just for the dialogue, because he loved and remembered specifically that the dialogue in that movie was really snappy, and had this 1920s witty, dry side to it. So it’s great when he does screenings, it’s like a film crash course. You can get an education in it too.”

Is he a good teacher? “He’s the best!” he declares, staking his claim to being Martin Scorsese’s number-one fan. “I would challenge anyone to know as much about movies as he does. I’m sure there are professors out there, but I would like to see a giant ‘Jeopardy’ stage, to see Marty up there with anyone in the world as far as film knowledge is concerned. He knows not only the film, but the editor and the second assistant director of some obscure French film…it’s weird. But that’s what he does, that’s all that he does, it’s who he is; he’s a man of film.”