Trivia / The Departed

• Actor-Inspired Element: Matt Damon decided his character should be impotent to counter Frank's macho personality.
  • Damon also maintains that Jack Nicholson was responsible for the scene where Costello and French execute a couple on the beach (it was originally just the guy, he is shot, scene ends, but Nicholson said they should add the woman, then had him comment that "she fell funny", indicating that he does this a lot).
• All-Star Cast: Leonardo DiCaprio, Matt Damon, Jack Nicholson, Mark Wahlberg, Martin Sheen and Alec Baldwin.
• Approval of God: Andrew Lau, one of the directors of Infernal Affairs, said in an interview with a Hong Kong newspaper while he of course prefers his own movie, he liked how Scorsese incorporated American culture into his remake, and thought overall he did a good job.
• Banned in China: The film was not released in mainland China due to the subplot of Costello selling microchips to Chinese agents. Ironically, the original Infernal Affairs was released there but was given a Revised Ending where the Sullivan equivalent was caught by police.
• Black Sheep Hit: invokedScorsese regards the film as this.
  • For one thing, it's set in contemporary America, which he rarely tackles. He prefers Historical Fiction and period films, and his other "contemporary" film was the short film Life Lessons.
  • Secondly, it deals with a milieu and city (Irish Mob and Boston) entirely different from his common territory (New York and the Italian Mob), and likewise deals largely with the police force and corruption (whereas he prefers dealing with Villain Protagonist)—in addition to having many shoot-outs and action scenes.
  • In terms of narrative, Scorsese noted in his speech at the Oscars that, "It's the first film of mine with a plot" and noted many times that It's Not Supposed to Win Oscars and that he was surprised that it won.
• Breakaway Pop Hit: "I'm Shipping Up To Boston" by the Dropkick Murphys. Though it wasn't recorded for the movie, it was popularized greatly by it and is now basically the theme song for most Boston sports teams. The rest of the soundtrack was also very well-received and CD of the same became a critical plot point on The Sopranos.
• California Doubling: New York stands in for Boston in most scenes; Scorsese had wanted to shoot in Boston, but there were issues, and New York offered a tax credit, so they only shot in Boston for a week to use scenery that was identifiably Boston.
  • However, due to the success of the film and the Academy Awards it earned, a 25% tax credit was created for filmmaking in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Subsequent films that take place in Boston, like The Town, have hence been shot on location, and several films that are set elsewhere have been made in Massachusetts.
• Career Resurrection: While he's not very fond of the film, Scorsese has said that the film's success and specifically its Oscar win has made his life easier, and made his later films easier to fund. At the time he made it, Scorsese's previous two features Gangs of New York and The Aviator were both expensive, critically divided and while commercially successful, were not as profitable as expected by the studios. The Departed was made for a relatively smaller budget and yet extremely successful commercially and critically and was praised as a "return to form" which allowed Scorsese to remain viable in the mainstream.
• Creator Backlash: While Scorsese thinks it's a good film, he absolutely hated filming it due to the nature of the film, and the fact that he had to delay making his passion project Silence to make it^note it subsequently got made in 2016, ten years after this film.
• Creator Breakdown: Minor example. As noted on the main page, Scorsese used his anger and despair over what America has become post-9/11 to influence his work on the film.
• Dyeing for Your Art: Leonardo DiCaprio gained fifteen pounds of muscle for his role as Billy Costigan.
• Fake American: The very British Ray Winstone as a Boston gangster. Although, the accent he puts on for the film would make you believe otherwise.
• Fake Irish: Fitzy, notably the only character in the film with an Irish accent, is played by David O'Hara, a Scottish actor who's made a career out of playing Irish characters in American movies (see: Braveheart and The Devil's Own).
• Follow the Leader: The Departed started a wave of urban dramas set in South Boston, including The Fighter and Gone Baby Gone alongside TV shows like The Black Donnellys which borrowed the Dropkick Murphys music track for the film.
• Harpo Does Something Funny: A lot of Costello's scenes were improvised. Nicholson was given the opportunity to do whatever he wanted to add to Costello's unpredictability. This resulted in Enforced Method Acting, as Leonardo DiCaprio wasn't sure what to expect in his scenes with Nicholson. The scene where Costigan and Costello are talking was loosely scripted, and many surprises happened in it, including Frank pulling out the gun.
• Hey, It's That Place!: The funeral scene was filmed at Green-Wood Cemetery in Brooklyn, New York. Martin Scorsese also shot Gangs of New York there.
• Hostility on the Set: Ray Winstone revealed that he and Jack Nicholson didn't get along with each other while filming.
• Irony as She Is Cast: Longtime friends Leonardo DiCaprio and Mark Wahlberg play co-workers who can barely stand each other.
• Real-Life Relative:
  • In the scene when Costigan is at the airport, the little girl that is seen with the pink backpack is Martin Scorsese's daughter Francesca.
  • Mark Wahlberg is Staff Sgt. Sean Dignam. His brother Robert Wahlberg is FBI Special Agent Frank Lazio.
• Star-Making Role: This film put Vera Farmiga on the map.
• What Could Have Been:
  • Multiple roles had originally been offered to different actors.
    • Brad Pitt was originally cast as Sullivan, but he dropped out to work on Babel. He retained a producer credit on the film.
    • Robert De Niro turned down the role of Captain Queenan to direct The Good Shepherd.
    • Irish actor Gerard McSorley was cast as Queenan at the start of production, but was recast early on. Multiple reasons have been given for this recasting over the years, most likely is that producers simply wanted someone more famous.
    • Ray Liotta was the original choice for Dignam, but had to decline due to other commitments. The role was also offered to Denis Leary, who turned it down to due to scheduling conflicts with Rescue Me.
    • Ellerby was originally offered to Mel Gibson, who was unable to accept because he was starting production on Apocalypto.
    • Trooper Brown was originally offered to The RZA, who turned it down due to scheduling conflicts.
    • Scorsese had originally wanted to cast an established actress like Jennifer Aniston, Patricia Arquette, Emily Blunt, Ashley Judd, Gwyneth Paltrow or Hilary Swank as Madolyn (the most significant female role in the film) but chose the then-unknown Vera Farmiga after she read with DiCaprio.
    • Al Pacino was considered for Frank Costello.
    • Tyler Perry publicly expressed interest in playing the role that went to Anthony Anderson.
    • The Chinese gangsters were supposed to be Remake Cameos by Andy Lau and Tony Leung Chiu-wai from Infernal Affairs.
  • There were talks of both a prequel featuring the main characters as well as sequel focusing on Sgt. Dignam. Both were scrapped due to a lack of interest by the actors and Scorsese.

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