Leonardo DiCaprio turns mental illness expert for Shutter Island

Making Shutter Island turned Leonardo DiCaprio into an expert on mental health.

The hotly awaited new thriller directed by Martin Scorsese and set in 1954 will not be released until February 19 in the US and March 12 in the UK. DiCaprio immersed himself in dark documentaries in working on his role as Teddy Daniels, a detective trying to track down a murderess who escapes from a hospital for the criminally insane and takes refuge on the island.

DiCaprio, 35, said: "There was a tremendous amount of research done involving the entrapments of mental illness and the suffering that people go through, so it led me to watch a lot of different documentaries on mental illness. For a few weeks there, it was some of the most hardcore film experiences I've ever had. It was like reliving trauma in a way. It was pretty intense."

Interestingly for DiCaprio the role is yet one more darkly dramatic part following the likes of Revolutionary Road [2008] with Kate Winslet – another 1950s drama that portrayed a woman trapped in the suburbs and her own mind.