Who would have guessed that Dungeon Island, which was originally released as one of Dennis Lehane’s novels, would be so successful? Exactly 12 years have passed since the mysterious story of Dungeon Island locked us in front of the screen, and there are still elements that you may be surprised to hear and wonder.
Directed by Martin Scorsese – Mark Ruffalo and Leonardo DiCaprio playing two police officers, after a mental patient named Rachel Solando goes missing, two police officers are sent to Dungeon Island, where many dangerous mental patients are found, to investigate the case. As you can imagine, with the arrival of the duo on the island, mysterious events begin to occur one after the other. Now let’s take a closer look at some of the information we’ve gathered about Dungeon Island.
Dungeon Island information you probably haven’t heard before:
Mark Ruffalo wasn’t actually in the cast
Mark Ruffalo wasn’t the first thought in mind while the decision for the 2nd police officer other than Leonardo DiCaprio had not yet been decided. But things suddenly changed when Mark Ruffalo sent a fan letter to director Martin Scorsese. The letter of his famous play Mark Ruffalo, who stated in his letter to the legendary director that he followed his 20-year acting life with great admiration and therefore wanted to work with him in this role, seems to have achieved the success it aimed.
The prequel film was originally going to be The Wolf of Wall Street
Martin Scorsese is working on The Wolf of Wall Street before embarking on the Dungeon Island project with Leonardo DiCaprio. they thought. But things didn’t go as planned as they thought, and the Wolf of Wall Street project got into a financial stalemate. This being the case, it remained as the second film behind the Dungeon Island project. If things had gone as planned, The Wolf of Wall Street would have been an earlier movie.
We could have watched Dungeon Island much earlier
Author Dennis Lehane’s book was very popular at the time of its release. The story of the book caught the attention of not only its readers, but also Columbia Pictures, as they thought that a project could be formed on this subject. Columbia Pictures purchased the rights to the novel in 2003, on release. Although Columbia Pictures got into the business quickly, they couldn’t decide on the options later on and the rights were again in Dennis Lehane’s hands. This time, Dennis Lehane sold the rights to Phoenix Pictures, and his production company signed with screenwriter Laeta Kalogridis, giving life to Dungeon Island, one of the legendary films of its time.
Martin Scorsese was not the first director of the movie
Martin Scorsese was not the first to sit in the director’s chair. The famous movie was originally conceived as a movie to be directed by Wolfgang Peterson. But the project’s iteration suffered when creator Dennis Lehane’s story was changed too much to hit box office records, and it was abandoned. Another name that was in the minds was David Fincher, but it seems that the calculation made at home did not fit the market.
Martin Scorsese inspired movie
Director Martin Scorsese told the Daily Telegraph that the main inspiration he showed for the roles of Mark Ruffalo and Leonardo DiCaprio was 1944. He mentioned that it was from a movie called Laura that came out. The famous director also talked about his interest in “Noir” themed films. However, the mood and tone of the films she takes as an example are quite different compared to Laura. The 2 films in question are Cat People and I Walked With a Zombie, which were two low-budget productions for RKO Pictures in the 1940s. Although the associated films are different from each other, the inspirations for Dungeon Island seem to have worked quite well.
Small details
The ballpoint pen used by Leonardo DiCaprio’s character Teddy is a Parker Jotter. It would not be a lie if we say that Parker Jotter, which was released in 1954, which was portrayed as the historical film, is the brand that gave birth to ballpoint pens. One of the first reliable ballpoint pens, Parker Jotter quickly made fountain pens obsolete. The fact that DiCaprio’s character actually uses the same pen is a small detail that affects the atmosphere in a nice way.
Difference between movie and book (Spoiler)
The main difference between the adapted movie and the book (Spoiler alert) is Ashecliffe because DiCaprio’s character killed his wife DiCaprio’s character, Dr. She tells Sheehan, “This place makes me wonder which is worse. Living as a monster? Or to die a good man?” While this line, which is not included in the books, makes the ending of the movie quite striking, it also causes the ending to be uncertain. Is Laeddis actually acting because he’s so cunning? Or did he really get to the point where he lost his mind?
The movie’s box office and grossing record
Confidence was high that the movie would be successful, but when the movie was released it was a surprising result for everyone. The movie, which grossed $41 million at the box office, provided the best-ever box office for the famous director Scorsese. When the movie started to leave the theaters, the final numbers were truly admirable. In the end, the film grossed 294 million and became one of the highest-grossing films of its time. Of course, both the box office record and the revenue record were broken by The Wolf of Wall Street, which came out 3 years after Dungeon Island.
The only movie that was not nominated for an Oscar
The fact that Leonardo DiCaprio had not won an Oscar for a long time was now bothering everyone. Fortunately, with Revenant, everything turned out to be smooth. But the famous actor’s problem with Oscar dates back to Dungeon Island. Of all the films Scorsese and DiCaprio have worked with, Dungeon Island was the only film that did not receive an Oscar nomination.
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