The Departed
THE DEPARTED
Director: Martin Scorsese
Stars: Leonardo DiCaprio, Matt Damon, Jack Nicholson
Studio: Warner Bros
CAST:
Leonardo DiCaprio … William ‘Billy’ Costigan Jr.
Matt Damon … SSgt. Colin Sullivan
Jack Nicholson … Francis ‘Frank’ Costello
Mark Wahlberg … SSgt. Dignam
Martin Sheen … Capt. Oliver Queenan
Ray Winstone … Mr. French
Vera Farmiga … Madolyn Madden
Anthony Anderson … Brown
Alec Baldwin … Capt. George Ellerby
Kevin Corrigan … Cousin Sean
James Badge Dale … Barrigan
David O’Hara … Fitzy (as David Patrick O’Hara)
Mark Rolston … Timothy Delahunt
Robert Wahlberg … Agent Frank Lazio - FBI
Kristen Dalton … Gwen
Thomas B. Duffy … Governor
J.C. MacKenzie … Realtor
Mary Klug … Billy’s Aunt
Peg Holzemer … Mrs. Kennefick
Robert ‘Toshi’ Kar Yuen Chan … Triad Boss (as Robert Chan)
Gurdeep Singh … Pakistani Proprietor
Armen Garo … Providence Gangster -1
John Cenatiempo … Providence Gangster -2
Joseph Riccobene … Kneecapped Bankrobber
Billy Smith … Detective -1 Tailing Queenan
Lyman Chen … Translator
Kevin P. McCarthy … Detective -1 - Colin’s Unit
Chris Fischer … Detective -2 - Colin’s Unit
Brian Smyj … Man Glassed in Bar
William Severs … Older Priest
Larry Mitchell … Younger Priest
Anthony Estrella … Police Camera Tech
Andrew Breving … Police Cell Phone Tech
Tracey Paleo … Darlene the Secretary
Douglas Crosby … Man Killed by French
Dorothy Lyman … Woman at Bar -1
Audrie J. Neenan … Woman at Bar -2 (as Audrie Neenan)
Frank Mallicoat … News Anchor
Paula DeMers … Billy’s Mother
Conor Donovan … Young Colin
Amanda Lynch … Carmen
Sallie Toussaint … Woman at Opera
Patrick Coppola … Bookie Harassed by French
Mick O’Rourke … Jimmy Bags
Deborah Carlson … Sister Mary Theresa
Nellie Sciutto … Queenan’s Secretary
Peter Welch … Other Prisoner
Henry Yuk … Chinese Government Man
Dennis Lynch … Costello’s Crew -1
Michael Byron … Costello’s Crew -2
William Lee … Costello’s Crew -3 (as Billy Lee)
John Rue … Luncheonette Proprietor
Peter Crafts … Man in Costello’s Bar
Joseph P. Reidy … Priest w / Young Colin (as Joseph Reidy)
John Farrer … Priest at Billy’s Funeral
Paris Karounos … Jimmy Pappas
Brian Haley … Detective -2 Tailing Queenan
Terry Serpico … Detective -3 Tailing Queenan
Jay Giannone … Detective -4 Tailing Queenan
John Polce … Lynn Detective (as John J. Polce)
Bo Cleary … Drill Instructor -2
David Conley … Gang Member with Mr. French
Victor Chan … Chinese Delivery Man
Jill Brown … Executed Woman
Sarah Fearon … French’s Wife
Tom Kemp … Billy Costigan, Sr. (credit only)
Denece Ryland … Woman Doctor
Zachary Pauliks … Young Billy (credit only)
Daniel F. Risteen Jr. … Crack House Cop -1
Francis P. Hughes … Crack House Cop -2
Johnny Cicco … Crack Addict
Chance Kelly … Exam Instructor
Shay Duffin … Bartender at Brasserie
John McConnell … Bookie in Costello’s Bar (as John M. McConnell)
Kenneth Stoddard … State Trooper -1
Jeffrey Winter … State Trooper -2
Paddy Curran … New Guy
Mark Philip Patrick … New Guy
David Fischer … Executed Man
Walter Wong … Waiter in Alley (as Walter Y.F. Wong)
Tony M. Yee … Waiter in Alley
Francesca Scorsese … Little Girl at Airport
Alex Morris … Young Man at Airport
Emma Tillinger … Woman with Dog
Craig Castaldo … Crack House Denizen (as Craig ‘Radioman’ Castaldo)
Dion Baia … Donegan - Police Cadet (uncredited)
Tracey Brennan … E.R. Doctor (uncredited)
Brendan Burke … Irish Thug (uncredited)
Buddy Dolan … Sean (uncredited)
Jim Evans … Police Officer (uncredited)
Steve Flynn … State Police Detective (uncredited)
Steve Lord … Academy Firearms Instructor (uncredited)
Nicolas Quilter … State Trooper (uncredited)
Conor Timmis … Rugby Fan (uncredited)
SYNOPSIS:
1-)Unbeknownst to the Massachusetts state police department, crime boss Frank Costello has placed a mole in its ranks: cadet Colin Sullivan. The police succeed in infiltrating Costello’s organization as well, however, providing a credible criminal background for undercover cadet Billy Costigan, who manages to gain Costello’s trust.
2-)Two rats. One mob boss. Leonardo DiCaprio plays Billy, a trainee cop who has a bad family history. He is sent by Captain Queenan, played by Martin Sheen and Sergeant Dignam, played by the excellent Mark Wahlberg, to infiltrate the Boston mob, run by Jack Nicholsons Frank Costello. Matt Damon plays Colin, a policeman who rises fast through his ranks, but is secretly working for Costello. Both characters bounce off eachother, while never actually meeting, while each tries to find the others identity, while coming unknowingly close (both are interested in the same woman). That is the basic set up for this brilliantly tense mob thriller, directed by Martin Scorcese.
THE DEPARTED TRIVIA :
This was Martin Scorsese’s first film to win Best Picture. And his first Oscar for best Director. Martin also said that this was the first movie he ever made with a plot.
“Could you double-check the envelope? - a disbelieving Martin Scorsese asked after being handed his long-awaited Academy award for Best Director.
“So many people have been wishing this for me for so many years…strangers, walking in the streets, at the doctor’s office, whatever…people say to me ‘You should win one! You should win one!’ I go in for X-rays, and they say ‘you should win one.’ And I say ‘Thank you’ …but I say that… friends that I’ve known for years have been wishing this for me and my family, and [to them] I say, ‘this is for you.’” - Scorsese accepting his award
“Working with Marty is quite something. It’s tumultuous, passionate, funny … it’s like being in the best film school in the world.” - Thelma Schoonmaker who won an Oscar for Best Editing
“That was an extraordinary moment when the three of them came out and gave me a look,” Scorsese said later. “We go back. Steven and I go back to 1968-69. Francis, 1970. George, 1970. I just went up to San Francisco to see Francis and his new film, which is quite wonderful, at George’s new theatre. “So they have influenced me. Francis has been like a big brother in my life. Spielberg and Lucas and I have — particularly in that first 10 or 12 years in the 1970s and early ’80s — worked together, really worked together, and helped each other with each other’s films. It’s almost like a private little film school. And to see the three of them walk out and give me a look before they opened the envelope, I was very surprised, very surprised.”
“I do admire the career achievement,” Scorsese said backstage after finally getting his first personal Oscar as best director. He had lost the directing prize five times before, including for his 1980 masterpiece Raging Bull, and also lost in a screenwriting category twice. “I saw Howard Hawks get a career achievement award (in 1975). So it’s a very special award. But it is a different feeling having been chosen.”
“To be standing here where Martin Scorsese won his Oscar is such a joy.” - The Departed producer, Graham King
On the red carpet before the Oscar ceremony, Scorsese revealed that his little 7-year-old daughter Francesca has a blue bird named Leo: “He’s named after DiCaprio.” Scorsese confirmed.
Graham King (The Departed producer) on what motivated Scorsese to do the film: “A man of his level just makes a film when he really gets attracted to the material - and he did with this. He loved the characters and the whole cat-and-mouse chase of it. He called me up after he had read it and said it was like an old-fashioned Cagney movie: a cross between that and a British noir-type gangster film.”
King on what it was like to work with Scorsese: “I have a lot of press asking me what is it’s like being the boss of Martin Scorsese. No-one is the boss of Martin Scorsese. He is his own boss. But he is such a great collaborator with producers, actors and everybody, that it makes it a joy to work with him. He doesn’t look down his nose at anyone. He listens to everyone’s opinion.”
“He just loves to talk with people about film,” says Graham King. “Everything he talks, he talks in film language. You’ll ask him, ‘How are you feeling today?’ and he’ll reply that he is feeling like that guy in that 1935 movie so and so. If you enjoy film, he is the greatest guy to be around.”
“I’d love to have a bunch of Oscars. It would be fun. But I’m at a point in my life where I’m just happy enough to make the pictures. But I feel good about any awards. I love the film critics’ awards from different cities; I’d love the grand prize again in Cannes if I could get it.” - Scorsese on not winning an Oscar (Playboy, April 1991)
Thelma Schoonmaker on working exclusively with Martin Scorsese: “Why would I want to work for any other director? He always has another feature coming along, fortunately for me. I’m very lucky because a lot of my fellow editors don’t have this luxury. They’re waiting for work, sometimes a year or so. It’s awful. And in between we do these documentaries. They refresh his palate, he says, and we learn so much. For me, it’s a great and refreshing and wonderful learning experience. And then I get to go on to another movie that’s very different from the previous. What could be more different than Kundun and Goodfellas and Casino? It’s so rich. I have no desire to work for anybody else. I’m very lucky. I think my fellow editors would like to kill me, frankly, so one of them could get a crack at him!”
THE DEPARTED AWARDS:
Winner of 4 Oscars at the 2007 Academy Awards:
Best Picture
Best Director - Martin Scorsese
Film Editing
Writing (Adapted Screenplay)
Winner of 1 Golden Globe at the 2007 Golden Globe Awards:
Best Director - Martin Scorsese
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