Film ‘set’ on accuracy

Brian Selznick promises that “Hugo,” an adaptation of his Caldecott Medal-winning children’s book “The Invention of Hugo Cabret,” isn’t one of those movies — a bungled cinematic translation that barely resembles its book and ends up disappointing readers. Call it “The Da Vinci Code” syndrome.

For one thing, the movie that opened this week was directed by Martin Scorsese, the little-known auteur behind Michael Jackson’s “Bad” video. For another, the filmmakers took great pains to faithfully re-create the Paris of 1931 depicted in the book’s pencil drawings.

The movie’s massive 150-by-119-foot set was built inside England’s Shepperton Studios. The station was decorated with period movie and other posters chosen by director Martin Scorsese. The posters were meant to slyly tie into the story in some way, including a magazine ad above a flower stand that features a heart in the same shape as the keyhole on the automaton.

Brian Selznick, who lives part-time in Brooklyn, went to Paris three times while writing and illustrating his book. The train station is based mostly on Paris’ Gare du Nord, with its soaring ceiling and columns. Other details, including pipes behind the walls, were taken from Grand Central, as was the idea for the main character’s living quarters. Selznick had heard stories that secret apartments existed above the station’s ceiling.