An Evening with Dennis Lehane

Dennis Lehane at Suffolk University's Modern Theatre on | Photo by Ken Martin.

Author and screenwriter Dennis Lehane spoke at Suffolk University’s Modern Theatre Thursday night in a dialogue with Boston University Cinematheque curator and film critic Gerald Peary on life in Dorchester, the novels he’s written, and the films he’s worked on.

Lehane has written ten novels, three of which (Mystic River, Gone Baby Gone, and Shutter Island) have been adapted into movies. He also wrote for three seasons of the HBO series The Wire. The event was part of a February cinema series at Suffolk’s Modern Theatre celebrating Cinema Month.

“I realized one day that I sucked at everything,” Lehane admitted at the event. “Except writing”

Lehane’s novels were described by Peary as “anti-American Dream” stories. Lehane talked about Shutter Island with the biggest smile on his face.

“Shutter Island was written so that there’s literally no breathing,” Lehane said. “There’s a moment about fifty pages into the book where Chuck says to Teddy ‘starting to get nervous here.’ And right in that moment I said ‘no more breathing.’”

Lehane also explained his love of the twist, that “oh shit” moment.

“Well that’s kind of why we do it, I mean, that’s half the fun,” said Lehane. “I love the emotional wallop, you know? I love ‘what’s in the box?’”

A Boston boy to the core, Lehane spoke at length about growing up in Dorchester with a serious accent sneaking out at the oddest moments.

“My parents were not huggy parents, they were not ‘let’s be your best pal’ parents,” Lehane said.  “But what you did know was you had absolute love and safety coming through that door. It wasn’t huggy kissy love, but it was love.”

It was that love and the resulting break away from Dorchester that inspired his sixth novel Mystic River. He explained that he wanted it to be about silence, “the central disease in all Irish families.”

“Mystic River is nothing if not a book about Survivor’s Guilt,” he sad. “It’s about my own survivor’s guilt.”

Despite getting out of Dorchester, Lehane still lives in the Boston area that sets the scene for so many of his novels.

Lehane discussed his latest novel Moonlight Mile, set in a more gentrified Dorchester, with a villain he described with a simple shrug.

“Sometimes … can’t you just have a little fun?” he said.

When talking about the adaptation of his books into movies, Lehane describes himself as extremely lucky as he has had the opportunity to be a part of the filming process for both Gone Baby Gone and Shutter Island.

His involvement on set was mostly with the actors, talking extensively with Sean Penn for the adaptation of Mystic River about Penn’s character Jimmy and his history. When asked about the level of involvement with the adapted screenplays, Lehane said that, while he’s a really hard ‘get,’ once he’s sold you the work he’ll get out of your way.

“I put in a leap of faith and trust you. And I take your money for that leap of faith, and at that point I feel like I should get the hell out of your way. Artist to artist I should show you respect.”

Of the three movie clips shown during the talk (one from every movie), Lehane spoke about the scenes from Mystic River and Gone Baby Gone at length. A Mystic River shot where the camera pans over a block of dried cement with a character’s truncated signature – symbolizing his truncated youth, his loss of innocence – lasts all of about five seconds, a scene that Lehane said took up about 50 pages worth of novel.

“You just want them to get the spirit,” said Lehane, “I don’t need them to get the letter.”

About Tara Jayakar

Tara is a senior at BU, studying English and Journalism. She enjoys nothing more then a good meal, a cup of coffee, and the bone-crushing force of a mosh pit.

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