Why Markum

[Bandiko]

Has anybody any idea why is Marcus changed to Markum in Mystic River?

[KC]

That's a good question. I have to admit that I hadn't noticed the change. (To clarify, for those who haven't read the book, the character played by Sean Penn in the movie is called "Jimmy Markum" in the movie, but he was "Jimmy Marcus" in the book by Dennis Lehane.)

Lehane worked with Eastwood on the preparation for the movie so he must have known about and approved the change.


It's just a guess, but perhaps it might have been because someone by the name of James or Jimmy Marcus is working in films or theatre now? I searched the IMDb and Google and came up with a "James A. Marcus" from the silent movie era, an actor "James Marcus" (roles in films from A Clockwork Orange to the late 80s), a director "James Marcus" with one film credit in 1989, and a "Jimmy Marcus" who staged a play in Islington, England in the 70s or 80s.

Another guess might be that "Jimmy Marcus" or "James Marcus" is registered as a trademark somewhere, or perhaps someone by that name is a legal corporation. I don't really know whether such things are taken into account by the legal staffs of film productions, but in this day and age, they well might be.

Names do sometimes get changed in the course of adapting a film from a book, or even in shooting a film. The character played by Eastwood in Play Misty for Me is called "Dave Garland" in the script and the novelization of the screenplay, and even in some publicity material. However, in the film, whenever his last name is mentioned it is clearly "Garver" and not "Garland" (he is just "Dave" in the onscreen credits).  Also, Eastwood's character in Unforgiven is called "Bill Munny" or just "Bill" throughout David Webb Peoples's original screenplay and even in the onscreen credits, but no one in the film ever calls him anything but "Will" Munny.

Also, the character called "Danny Hansford" in John Berendt's Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil (a rambling farrago based on true events) became "Billy Hanson" when he was played by Jude Law in Eastwood's film.

[Bandiko]

Interesting. Are you a native english speaking? cause I am Hungarian, and tried to find some meaning to this name. Your other examples seem to suggest, that during shooting several repeating mistakes were made, then they said yes, why stick to it, it is just a name.
But maybe the other names help: Boyle is a Boy (the Boy who escaped wolves... as in Lehane's novel), Devine is Divine,  but Markum? OK there is Jim Markum Swing Band, and Clint being a jazz expert amy know him, and a Jim Marcus waiting for death penalty and so on. It could have been a mistake, too.
So let's wait, maybe anybody has the "final" answer.

[KC]

I am a native English speaker, and the only meaning I could get for "Marcus" would be "mark us," possibly meaning "notice us," but that doesn't make too much sense ... I'm reading a book about you, how could I not notice you? The switch to "Markum" in the movie doesn't seem to add or subtract much from possible wordplays on the name. (It could still mean "Mark 'em.") I recall that in one of the more improbable lines of the dialogue (straight from the book), Sean mutters (speaking of Jimmy), "God said you owed another marker. He's come to collect."

I never heard of the Jim Markum Swing Band; it seems to be a local Illinois group.

The "death penalty" Jim Marcus you mention is the Executive Director of a nonprofit Texas organization that defends indigent Texas Death Row inmates. Since Jimmy Marcus/Markum in the book and film would seem to be a not entirely improbable candidate for the death penalty sooner or later in his wretched existence, perhaps it was this coincidence of names that prompted the change.

If anyone has the "final" answer, I would like to hear it as well.

[Brendan]

Looking around the net I found this site which says that Marcus means polite or shining. Which would go against the character of Jimmy since he isn't polite or shining. Well he does shine, but in the wrong light.

I found this (about Marcus):

MARCUS :
English, 1) patronymic derived from the Latin form of the Biblical name Mark 'from the god Mars', the companion of early Christian missionaries and author of the second gospel, revered in European countries; 2) Englished form of the Jewish patronymic derived from MORDECAI 'taught of God'; also found in the form MARKS.

I don't know if any of that helps, but I tried.

[Fingolfin]

Iam thinking of something else.How come Jimmy is redheaded in the beginning and Sean is dark?!?It might be a stupid question,but it made me wonder.

[KC]

I'm still not sure why the change from "Marcus" to "Markum" was made, but it is specified in a "Note" dated 8/8/02 (or about a month before shooting began) at the beginning of the copy of the script I have.

NOTE: The last name of "Marcus" has been changed to "Markum" (for James/Jimmy, Katie/Katherine, Nadine)

I posted the information to the IMDb, which had all the characters in Jimmy's family as "Marcus," and they have now made the corrections.