Mark Ruffalo Once Felt He Made a Fool out of Himself in Front of Martin Scorsese for ‘Shutter Island’

Actor Mark Ruffalo found himself working alongside prolific director Martin Scorsese in 2008’s Shutter Island. But because of his enthusiasm for collaborating with Scorsese, Ruffalo felt he’d embarrassed himself in front of the director.

Mark Ruffalo was cast in ‘Shutter Island’ after writing Martin Scorsese fan-mail

Scorsese and Ruffalo first came together for the psychological thriller Shutter Island, which also starred Leonardo DiCaprio. Ruffalo acquired the part in the psychological thriller in a somewhat unexpected way. As is the case with many actors in the film industry, Ruffalo was a long time admirer of Scorsese.

Eventually, Ruffalo would write Scorsese a personal letter revealing his desire to be in a Scorsese project. Ruffalo shared that the letter helped get him a spot in Scorsese’s Shutter Island.

“I’ve been a big fan of his, pretty much through 20 years of acting and it’s always been a dream of mine. So I wrote a letter to him saying how much I wanted to work with him, and it worked,” he once said according to Contact Music.

Mark Ruffalo made a fool of himself while working with Martin Scorsese

Although Ruffalo fulfilled his dream by working with Scorsese, collaborating with the legendary director came with a bit of pressure. The Avengers actor found himself racked with nerves being on set with Scorsese. Because of his anxiousness, Ruffalo made a few mistakes on set he was concerned would sour his experience in Shutter Island.

“I was very nervous around him,” Ruffalo said in a 2010 interview with Cleveland. “One day they were calling me to the set, and you know, you don’t want to keep Marty waiting. I had just changed my clothes, and they’re saying on the headsets, ‘OK, we’re ready to go, let’s get Mark,’ so I was running in from outside. They said Marty wanted to talk to me. He was up on this platform, and there were some stairs going up, so I start running up the stairs. What I didn’t know was that they were on wheels. So I run up and I just start flying across the room.”

Ruffalo was a little worried that filming would have to stop because of the mishap. But he’d later relax after everyone started laughing at the incident.

“Luckily, I kind of recovered it and stopped the stairs. Marty looks down at me for a moment, and I started laughing. Then everyone started laughing. That was pretty much the icebreaker. I had just made a total fool of myself in front of everybody, so I had nothing else to lose,” Ruffalo recalled.

Martin Scorsese had always wanted to work with Mark Ruffalo

Perhaps the letter Ruffalo sent to Scorsese wasn’t needed for him to snag his Shutter Island role. The actor had already gotten Scorsese’s attention with his performances alone. Scorsese was interested in working with Ruffalo after seeing him in the 2000 film You Can Count on Me. And in Shutter Island, Ruffalo continued to impress the Oscar-winner with his acting ability.

“What you have with Mark is a strong emotional connection,” Scorsese said. “He is believable on every level while playing a multifaceted character.”