Laeta Kalogridis is the screenwriter behind the adaptation of the Dennis Lehane thriller “Shutter Island”, directed by Martin Scorsese and starring Leonardo Di Caprio, and she talked to riskybusiness.com about why gender still does and yet doesn’t matter in Hollywood.
“Shutter Island” is a dark piece, and the writer notes that she finds it bizarre that some people find it odd that a woman was in charge of the adaptation. “First off, I’d say the thing that Kathryn Bigelow (the Oscar nominated director of “The Hurt Locker”) has been saying lately all over the place lately, which is that, it is a wonderful thing to be recognised as there being something great about being female and doing well in your field, but we all long for the day when that appellation has no significance.” She says the major literary influence in her childhood were the Greek myths, which she jokes that “The Brothers Grimm have nothing on the ancient Greeks in terms of wall to wall violence. Those were the stories of my childhood, those were my favourite stories… As an undergraduate, my period of interest was Shakespearian, Jacobean, Elizabethan dramas… I’m a little hyper-aware… of how hard it has been historically for women to establish themselves in certain genres of storytelling… (yet) I think it’s important to note that the work is the work and for the most part if people get hung up on your gender and think about that before they think about what’s on the page, it’s a great pity!”
