FILM · 2010 · USA
Shutter Island
- Directed by
- Martin Scorsese
- Runtime
- 138 min
- Studio
- Paramount Pictures, Phoenix Pictures, Sikelia Productions
36 archived facts 5 topics 2 sources Last reviewed Nov 2026
World War II soldier-turned-U.S. Marshal Teddy Daniels investigates the disappearance of a patient from a hospital for the criminally insane, but his efforts are compromised by troubling visions and a mysterious doctor.
36 Interesting Facts About Shutter Island
Interesting Facts (1)
Production Story (9)
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Shortly before its original release in October 2009, the movie was pushed back to February 2010. It did, however, have a special "secret" screening at Austin's "Butt-Numbathon" film festival in December of 2009. Critics attended the screening, but were asked not to release their reviews until the official release date.
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First scheduled to be released by Paramount Pictures in the U.S. and Canada on October 2, 2009, to be in contention for that year's Oscars. Paramount Pictures later pushed this movie back to February 19, 2010, due to financing problems (the studio didn't have the fifty to sixty million dollars necessary to promote an awards movie). Another reason cited for the pushback was Leonardo DiCaprio's unavailability for the interview circuit due to other filming commitments. Paramount Pictures also figured that a movie geared towards adult audiences might achieve some traction in the doldrums month of February, when there are traditionally very few "intelligent" movies released.
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Mark Ruffalo won the role of Chuck Aule after sending Martin Scorsese a fan letter saying how much he wanted to work with him.
Behind the Scenes (5)
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The quote "Remember us, for we too have lived, loved and laughed", seen on a plaque on the way to the mental institution, is taken from Medfield's Vine Lake Cemetery. A contest was held to come up with a quote to be used on a stone marker as a remembrance of those who died in the 1918 influenza epidemic known as the Spanish flu.
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Scenery from Peddocks Island (initial island approach), Peddocks Island in the Boston Harbor, Massachusetts, Acadia National Park in Maine, Medfield State Hospital in Medfield, Massachusetts, and the Rice Estate at Turner Hill Country Club in Ipswich, Massachusetts, were combined via CGI to create the imagery of Shutter Island as a whole. The large mountainous area of the island, seen during the ferry approach, was added in post-production and does not exist, but the decaying brick buildings on the lowlands are real ruins from Peddocks Island.
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Contains a major spoiler — show
For the devastating lake reveal in Shutter Island, director Martin Scorsese did not use real child actors in the water. Instead, the production relied on incredibly detailed, lifelike prosthetic dummies and adult stunt doubles to simulate the drowned children. The dummies were custom-molded from real child actors.
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Easter Eggs & References (12)
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Dr. Cawley (Sir Ben Kingsley) dresses like Dr. Aaron Beck, the father of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, with his signature brown suit and red bow tie.
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The ballpoint pen Teddy (Leonardo DiCaprio) used in the movie is a Parker Jotter. It was released in 1954 (the year this movie takes place) and was the first successful and reliable ballpoint pen to hit the market, which quickly drove fountain pens into obsolescence. Over 3.5 million pens were sold that year and the Parker Jotter dominated the ballpoint pen market during that decade.
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Contains a major spoiler — show
When Teddy, Chuck, and Cawley leave Rachel's room after their initial inspection and enter the common room, it is full of male patients. This indicates that the room is on the men's ward, and is another early indicator that "Rachel's" room is actually Teddy/Andrew's.
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Contains a major spoiler — show
For Teddy to have been able to find so easily the note hidden behind the bed, it means that this is actually his own room. Dr Cawley states that the note is in "Rachel Solando's" handwriting. Since she does not exist, it means the note is in Ted/Andrew's own handwriting.
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Contains a major spoiler — show
There are several clues that Chuck (Mark Ruffalo) is a doctor, not a U.S. Marshal. When Chuck is asked to hand his gun over, he gives both his gun and holster to the guard since, as a doctor, he is unfamiliar with unholstering a gun. While Teddy Daniels (Leonardo DiCaprio) is interrogating Peter Breene (Christopher Denham) about Rachel, Teddy starts scratching his notebook with a pencil, which makes Peter uncomfortable, and as a result, both get agitated. When Teddy tries to get physical with Peter by grabbing his wrist, right at that point Chuck pulls Teddy back to his seat with his left hand, while with his right hand he can be seen ordering the mental institution staff to bring Peter back to the ward. When they interview Bridget (Robin Bartlett) and Teddy mentions Dr. Sheehan, she can be seen glancing quickly at Chuck (who is Dr. Sheehan). Also note that during the patient interviews, there are always guards standing in the background behind the patients and Teddy, but not behind Chuck, indicating that Teddy is a patient as well.
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Contains a major spoiler — show
Even though Auschwitz is the most commonly known concentration and death camp to have the iron gates with "Arbeit macht frei" ("Work sets you free"), it was not the only camp to have this inscription whether on a gate or elsewhere. Dachau did have the iconic gate as well, so it is correct that Teddy would have seen this gate, and the gate would be in the scenes of them liberating the camp.
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Contains a major spoiler — show
The medication that Teddy Daniels (Andrew Laeddis) takes is Chlorpromazine (brand name Thorazine). The psychotropic medication was released in 1953 as the first ever typical antipsychotic to treat schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. At the time, it was a revolutionary discovery, largely replaced the barbaric prefrontal lobotomy and led to numerous classes of new medication, such as tricyclic antidepressants (TCAs).
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Contains a major spoiler — show
When Chuck (Mark Ruffalo) and Teddy (Leonardo DiCaprio) are in Rachel Solando's room investigating her disappearance, Chuck holds up two pairs of shoes that supposedly belong to Solando. Both pairs are large men's loafers—ones that would fit Daniels, not Solando.
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Contains a major spoiler — show
There are several clues and intentional continuity errors throughout the movie that foreshadow the ending. These include the guards just standing around the scene of the drowning (they are not actively searching for Rachel since she doesn't exist); a patient's drink of water disappearing between shots (in the shot from Teddy's perspective, she drinks from an empty hand; Teddy has a consistent aversion to water throughout the film, as it subconsciously reminds him of his drowned children); a cardigan appearing briefly on Rachel (which is later worn by the other Rachel); and lines from Edward's, a.k.a. Andrew's, dreams being repeated (such as "Why are you wet, baby?"). These techniques are also used in his dreams, showing a similarity between what he perceives as a dream and what he perceives as real.
Deeper Meaning (9)
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Through most of the story line, it is cloudy and the rain turns heavier as the story gets deeper. The sun only comes out in the final scenes. This is another reference to Freud, who described the subconscious as a confusing cloudy weather in opposition to the clear skies of the consciousness.
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Contains a major spoiler — show
In the dream sequence, Dolores is depicted as having her back hollowed out and ashen. In this aspect, she bears a strange resemblance to the Skogsrå, or Huldra, of Scandinavian folklore: beautiful forest trolls whose backs resembled hollowed-out trunks and who seduced men into marrying them. If their men abused them, they would wreak vengeance on the men or revert to an ugly form. This may connect Dolores' mental breakdown to Teddy's, a.k.a. Andrew's, alcoholism and the implied mental and verbal abuse that she suffered at his hands as a result.
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Contains a major spoiler — show
Andrew Laeddis' name in Shutter Island doesn't have the same clear wordplay as Teddy Daniels (Teddy Denials). However, it can be seen as a meaningful anagram. Rearranging the letters in "Andrew Laeddis" spells "Edward Daniels," which closely resembles "Teddy Daniels." "Teddy" is a common nickname for "Edward." This reinforces the connection between Andrew Laeddis and his alter ego, Teddy Daniels, highlighting the character's fragmented identity and the central theme of the story--his struggle with reality and denial.
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Contains a major spoiler — show
Teddy Daniels' final line to Chuck Aule ("This place makes me wonder," he asks, "which would be worse, to live as a monster, or to die as a good man") is not in Dennis Lehane's book, and inspired an article in The Guardian (U.K.) over what this movie's ending really meant. While Leonardo DiCaprio and Martin Scorsese did not have concrete answers, Psychiatric Advisor Dr. James Gilligan said that Daniels did choose his fate (and chose it as Andrew Laeddis). Dr. Gilligan said that Daniels' guilt over his past actions, especially his role in causing his wife to lose her mind and murder their children before he killed her, led him to commit a form of suicide by giving the Shutter Island staff the greenlight to fully lobotomize him. Dr. Gilligan also said that this movie's treatment of Daniels succeeded because he did face his delusions, but failed in that his (apparently fake) retained psychosis gave the pro-lobotomy individuals a "win" in the debate over their methods versus new, non-surgical treatments.
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Contains a major spoiler — show
Leonardo DiCaprio's character has so polarized his two personalities that, for the first part of the movie, Teddy never strikes a match to light his own cigarettes. This is no doubt because he associates matches with arson and the elusive Andrew Laeddis. However, as Ashecliffe's treatment begins to merge his personalities, he begins striking his own matches, particularly when he traverses cell block C.
Related pages
- Emily Mortimer — Shutter Island comes up in the facts on that page
Sources & editorial notes
Reference databases
- Wikipedia
- IMDb
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