Scorsese’s Shutter Island Becomes Ashecliffe

Martin Scorsese’s Shutter Island, starring his golden boy Leonardo DiCaprio, Mark Ruffalo, Patricia Clarkson and Ben Kingsley, has changed its name to Ashecliffe. I’m not calling this an improvement. Shutter Island sounds like something. Ashecliffe sounds like a dead cartoon cat.

The name, says Cinematical, is taken from the asylum where US Marshal DiCaprio and his partner Ruffalo are conducting a murder investigation. Michelle Williams was due to play DiCaprio’s wife, but she’s put her projects on hold while dealing with the loss of her estranged husband, Heath Ledger, so there’s no telling whether or not she’ll stay on. It’d be especially eerie because her character is supposed to be communicating with Leo from beyond the grave. So it’ll either be traumatizing or therapeutic for her tto play. Considering it’s a Scorsese picture, I’d lean towards the former. But Christopher Plummer seems to think Ledger would agree that the show must go on.