The Departed (2006)
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- To accurately portray their role in The Departed, Leonardo DiCaprio spent weeks conducting hands-on research and rehearsing directly with director Martin Scorsese.
- Despite initial studio skepticism, The Departed went on to gross over $291,500,000 worldwide.
The Departed is a 2006 American crime thriller film directed by Martin Scorsese, based on the 2002 Hong Kong film Infernal Affairs. The film follows two men on opposite sides of the law in Boston's criminal underworld: Colin Sullivan, played by Matt Damon, a Massachusetts State Police detective who is secretly a mole for Irish-American mob boss Frank Costello, played by Jack Nicholson; and Billy Costigan, played by Leonardo DiCaprio, an undercover state trooper who has infiltrated Costello's organization. As both organizations become aware that they harbor a rat, Sullivan and Costigan race to identify each other before being exposed.
The Departed earned Martin Scorsese the Academy Award for Best Director, an honor that had eluded him through decades of acclaimed filmmaking including Taxi Driver, Raging Bull, Goodfellas, and Gangs of New York. The film also won Best Picture, Best Adapted Screenplay, and Best Film Editing. Jack Nicholson's unhinged, improvisation-heavy performance as the mercurial Costello — loosely based on real Boston crime boss Whitey Bulger — brought a dangerous unpredictability to every scene, with cast members reportedly never knowing what Nicholson would do next.
The ensemble supporting cast, including Mark Wahlberg, Alec Baldwin, and Martin Sheen, was uniformly excellent, with Wahlberg receiving an Academy Award nomination for his memorably profane turn as Staff Sergeant Dignam. The Departed earned $291 million worldwide on a $90 million budget. The film's Boston setting, complete with meticulous attention to the city's Irish-American culture and institutional corruption, gave it a distinct regional identity that set it apart from Scorsese's previous New York-focused crime films.
