Seasoned film producer Mike Medavoy has been in the movie business for decades and has seen a lot change. He has also watched some of his peers become legends. Martin Scorsese, who Medavoy worked with in 1975’s ”One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest”, needed no convincing from Medavoy to sign on for the film adaptation of Dennis Lehane’s ”Shutter Island”.

When Moviehole’s Tim Johnson caught up with Mike Medavoy in NYC ahead of ”Shutter Island”’s release, he compared Leonardo DiCaprio to a film legend, talked about running for public office and revealed his biggest fear.

Tim: So I was just talking to Brad (Fischer, producer), and you should know he’s taking all the credit for this film! Just kidding, though he did find the book though right?

Mike: Yeah.

Tim: And he brought that to you and said, ‘Hey, I think we could have something here?’

Mike: Yeah, he brought it to me, he found Laeta (Kalogridis, screenwriter), who we had worked with before, he worked on the script and it was his idea in the first place to go to Marty (Martin Scorsese, director). I thought it was a long shot.

Tim: I was going to say…

Mike: Yeah, I didn’t think it was going to happen, but he proved me wrong. Marty and I have known each other for a long time, from our early days. I was kind of a hotshot agent and Marty came along, a young agent representing Spielberg (Steven Spielberg, director) and Coppola (Francis Ford Coppola, director) and Hal Ashby (director) and a bunch of others. I’d done three films with Marty at that point, so I was delighted that he was on.

Tim: Do you consider Brad as your protégé?

Mike: Well i have lots of protégés in this business, people that have started with me and have moved on. I think both Brad and David Thwaites who works with me too, are two wonderfully young, energetic, smart guys who get the benefit of my experience, and my faith in them. And they’ve grown; both of them have grown tremendously. And I have a lot of pride in seeing that happen, being able to say, ‘Ok, here’s somebody else who deserves to have a career’. Because you know, when I leave all of this, whatever I did, the 314 movies I’ve been involved in.

Tim: Did you read the book after Brad recommended it?

Mike: Of course.

Tim: And what was your first reaction to it?

Mike: Well, there were a couple of things that were interesting to me. One interesting aspect to me, you think about your own fears, and somebody asked me ‘What are your worst fears’? I mean, the worst fear I think a parent can have, the idea of losing a child before you pass is a scary…

Tim: Horrifying.

Mike: Yeah, I mean, I can’t think of anything more horrifying. I found that to be interesting and scary.

Tim: Also, I think the moment in the cave; it plays on the fact that any one of us could fall in the trap of being accused of mental illness, when in fact we’re fine.

Mike: Yeah, exactly. So, all those elements, plus the cast, plus Marty, plus the fact that I’ve always said, that even in my book the things that are interesting are the ones that when you walk out of that theater, make you not only having enjoyed it, but also you end up thinking about it. You think about life…

Tim: I’ll be honest with you, I saw this movie last night, and it’s stayed with me. It’s one of those ones that affect you; it really hits some…

Mike: Chords.

Tim: Yeah, it really does. How did you get Marty on board? Did you have to put in a call?

Mike: You know, i think Brad gave it to the agent, who gave it to the manager, who gave it to Marty. And I think that’s basically the sequence.

Tim: So he saw something in it, and that was it,

Mike: Yeah, that was it.

Tim: What about Leo (Leonardo DiCaprio), was it important to have him in that role?

Mike: Well, Leo wanted to work with Marty, and Marty wanted to work with Leo.

Tim: No complaints?

Mike: No, you don’t have to convince the queen!

Tim: Do you see any similarities between De Niro in One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest and Leo in this film? Perhaps, what De Niro was to Cuckoo’s Nest, Leo is to this film?

Mike: I think Leo is a great actor, as you probably know, I was executor of Marlon Brando’s, I’m the trustee of his estate. I think this comes as close to getting a sense of what Marlon was, in that performance.

Tim: It’s a very layered character, performance.

Mike: Absolutely.

Tim: How did you go about research, did you personally go to any of the old asylums from the 1950′s?

Mike: No, they went to a couple of mental asylums to get permission to shoot there, but they had to recreate a lot of it. There was one abandoned one, which they used…

Tim: In Massachusetts.

Mike: Yep.

Tim: Ok, a slight change of pace, but how does one get on to the Homeland Security Advisory Council? How does that come about?

Mike: You know what? The Governor of California, not the current Governor, not Arnold Schwarzenegger who I did Terminator with, but the previous Governor, asked me to be on the state board. And as you probably know, my interests are not just about making movies. I don’t want to be a one trick pony for the rest of my life. I’m interested in doing documentaries and I’ve written two books, American Idol After Iraq : Competing for Hearts and Minds in the Global Media Age, which deals with how media affects foreign policy.

Tim: Films included?

Mike: Yeah, actually, centered on film, but really you take the wide spectrum of the how the media does it. My interest in foreign policy goes back to my college days, and the fact that I was born in China and raised in South America, just gave me a wide spectrum…

Tim: Of a worldview?

Mike: Yeah. Can I say, that it’s an interesting experience because it widens my experience. I’m not sure that they’re getting their money’s worth by me being on it. I’m also not a pushy guy and I don’t go around trying to insert myself into anything.

Tim: But, if you have an educated opinion…

Mike: If I have an educated opinion, I may put it out there. But sometimes it just winds up being a bottle in the ocean.

Tim: On politics, you supported Barack Obama in the election, he’s got a lot of criticism over the last twelve months, where do you sit now with your support of him?

Mike: My support hasn’t waned at all.

Tim: Do you think he’s getting a rough ride?

Mike: Yeah, I do. And I can think of a bunch of reasons why he’s getting it. But I think he has to do a better job, and if I were to give him any kind of advise, I would say, use the media instead of it descending on you. I think you’ve got to use the media too. And I don’t think they are doing a good job on that, using images and things like that. People learn more from pictures than they do from words, unfortunately. Interesting because he’s a twenty-first century guy, that was brought up on words, like all lawyers do. He needs to really understand that it’s now images.

Tim: And it’s the 24-hour news-cycle.

Mike: Yeah, exactly.

Tim: Would you ever run for office?

Mike: No, God!

Tim: Not that stupid!

Mike: No, I’m usually the guy in the background. I’m not a foreground kind of guy. Tough enough getting to the point where I’ve gotten where people probably would say, I’ve gotten too much attention. It’s like, why him? I’m fine with it, people can believe whatever they want to believe it doesn’t bother me one way or the other. I just think we have a larger task in this country. And that is between whether you’re Republican or Democrat… especially in that part of (Barack Obama’s State of the Union address) speech where he talks about why should we let China and India get ahead of us with rapid rail systems. It’s a no-brainer, what are we thinking, that’s what made this country.

Tim: You can’t sit on your hands.

Mike: Yeah.

Tim: So you see any Oscar contention for this movie?

Mike: That would be getting ahead of myself wouldn’t it?

Tim: It must enter your thoughts, just a little.

Mike: You know, I don’t like to think that way, because I think it’s a sure way to lose.

Tim: Does it matter to you?

Mike: No, not any more. The movie is made. It is what it is. I like it; you like it, a lot of other people have liked it. I think that’s a great reward. And whether it wins the Oscar, you know I was thinking the other day; I actually called somebody and said, ten really good movies this year? Tell me what they are, because I can’t tell you ten great movies. I really can’t. And besides that, I’ve already been around seven Oscars, actually I’ve been around sixteen Oscars, only won seven. So it’s no longer anything I would think about, and I didn’t after the first film. Once Cuckoo’s Nest won, never again did I think about it, I never said ‘Oh God, this is going to be an Oscar movie.’ Look at the movies Marty’s done. I think the year that Raging Bull was nominated I have a feeling, I can’t remember which one won that year, you know, it probably should have won if you go back and look at it. Some of the movies…

Tim: Great movies haven’t won.

Mike: Yeah.

Tim: Well, this is a great film whether it wins or not, congratulations.

Mike: Thank you so much.