The Departed turns 20 this week, and Martin Scorsese’s 2006 neo-noir crime thriller still rewards fans who dig into its making, hidden visual language, and journey from a Hong Kong original to Boston.
It began as a $1.75 million remake
In January 2003, Warner Bros. Pictures and producers Brad Grey and Brad Pitt bought the rights to remake the Hong Kong film Infernal Affairs (2002) from Media Asia Entertainment Group for $1.75 million. William Monahan was secured as a screenwriter, and Scorsese, who admired the script, signed as director.
Brad Pitt chose producing over playing Sullivan
In March 2004, United Press International announced Scorsese would remake Infernal Affairs and set it in Boston, with Leonardo DiCaprio and Brad Pitt slated to star. Pitt, tentatively scheduled as Sullivan, declined the role saying a younger actor should play it and decided to produce the film instead. Scorsese’s associate Kenneth Lonergan suggested Matt Damon, who grew up in Boston, for Sullivan, and Scorsese asked Jack Nicholson to play Costello.
De Niro and Liotta both passed
Robert De Niro was approached to play Queenan but declined to direct The Good Shepherd instead. Scorsese would say De Niro turned down the role because he was not interested. Ray Liotta also declined a role due to a commitment to another project.
Costello’s roots in a real gangster
Nicholson wanted the film to have “something a little more” than the usual gangster movie, and screenwriter William Monahan based Costello on Irish-American gangster Whitey Bulger. That gave the screenplay realism and dangerous uncertainty because of the wide-ranging carte blanche the FBI gave Bulger in exchange for revealing information about fellow gangsters.
An undercover cop advised the production
Technical consultant Tom Duffy had served three decades on the Boston Police Department, particularly as an undercover detective investigating the Irish mob. The Departed was officially greenlit by Warner Bros. in early 2005, and shooting began on April 18 that year.
Boston story, New York soundstage
Some of the film was shot on location in Boston. For budgetary and logistical reasons, many scenes, particularly interiors, were shot in locations and on sets in New York City, which had tax incentives for filmmakers that Boston did not have at the time.
A $90 million budget, a $291.5 million hit
The film grossed $132.4 million in the United States and Canada and $159 million in other territories, for a total of $291.5 million against a production budget of $90 million. Rotten Tomatoes shows 91% positive reviews from 285 critics, and Metacritic gives 85 out of 100. Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave it an A−.
The X motif hides in plain sight
Scorsese uses an “X” motif to foreshadow death in a manner similar to Howard Hawks’s Scarface (1932). You can spot it in the taped windows of the building Queenan enters before being thrown to his death, behind Costigan’s head in the elevator before he is shot, and the carpeted hallway floor when Sullivan returns before Dignam shoots him.
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Facts from Wikipedia: The Departed, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Film images from TMDB. This product uses the TMDB API but is not endorsed or certified by TMDB.
