You know an artist has reached the highest echelons of stardom when full names are no longer necessary, like Cher, Madonna, Spielberg, etc. Well, Scorsese is by far one of the film industry’s most respected and accomplished figures of all time. With over fifty films to his credit, forty years in the business and almost 100 various awards, he’s definitely one of the greatest filmmakers of all time. We caught up with Scorsese to talk with him about his new dramatic thriller Shutter Island, which opens in theatres next week.

Tell us about the movie?
Two marshals, Teddy Daniels (Leonardo DiCaprio) and Chuck Aule (Mark Ruffalo) are going to an island off of Boston Harbor that has a very unique prison hospital for the criminally insane. It’s a very special hospital, and it doesn’t have that many patients, only about sixty or seventy, with different levels of treatment. A female patient has escaped and these two marshals have to go there to investigate and try and find her.

What attracted you to the project?
One of the elements that attracted me to the story was the nature of the genre. This picture seems to have its roots in a number of genres. Primarily, I guess what you would call it is a psychological thriller with touches of gothic horror or implications of gothic horror, and I found that I couldn’t put the script down, and I was constantly surprised by the different levels of the story. It’s also the type of picture I like to watch.

I see you turned to one of your favorites for this one, Leonardo DiCaprio.
Why is he on your “go to” list?
I immediately agreed that he should do it because I knew, by this point, we have a way of working together now, and I knew the different emotional and psychological levels that his character Teddy had to reach.

That character’s journey is a huge part of the draw of the film, right?
It’s not necessarily the nature of how the story is told or the setting, but it is really what happens to the character of Teddy I found very moving.

Why should people go see Shutter Island?
There’s really a creepy, threatening sense about it.

Shutter Island opens next week. The film is rated R for disturbing violent content, language and some nudity. I want to hear from you! Email the name of your favorite Martin Scorsese film to trivia@reelcriticstv.com for a chance to win a pair of movie tickets to the Studio Movie Grill. For all of the week’s new releases and more of your favorite celebrities, check out my show Reel Critics on Time Warner Cable Video on Demand under the North Texas Programming tab!