Shutter Island (film) - Production

Production

Film rights to Dennis Lehane's novel Shutter Island were first optioned to Columbia Pictures in 2003, but the rights lapsed back to the author. Lehane's representatives then sold the rights to the production company Phoenix Pictures, who hired screenwriter Laeta Kalogridis to write the screenplay. The project was in development for a year. By October 2007, the project had developed into a co-production between Columbia and Paramount Pictures. Director Martin Scorsese and actor Leonardo DiCaprio, who had worked together on Gangs of New York, The Aviator, and The Departed, were both attracted to the project. Locations in Massachusetts, Connecticut, and Nova Scotia were scouted. Production began on March 6, 2008.

The World War II flashback scenes were filmed in Taunton, Massachusetts. Old industrial buildings in Taunton's Whittenton Mills Complex were used to replicate the Dachau concentration camp. Scenes were filmed at the old Medfield State Hospital in Medfield, Massachusetts. Scenes in Cawley's office were shot on the second floor of the chapel during the late evening; lights were shone through the windows to make it look like it was daytime. The surrounding brick walls in the outside hospital scenes were actually painted to look like plywood which served the dual purpose of acting as scenery and blocking the set from view of a local road. Originally, scenes were going to be shot at the old Worcester State Hospital, but the filming would have gone on during the demolition of the surrounding buildings, which was impractical. Borderland State Park in Sharon, Massachusetts was used for the cabin scene. Peddocks Island was used as a setting for the story's island and East Point, in Nahant, Massachusetts for the lighthouse scenes. Filming ended on July 2, 2008.