The Departed (2006) on Netflix
Irish mob boss Frank Costello plants Colin Sullivan inside the Massachusetts State Police. Captain Queenan and Sergeant Dignam send recruit Billy Costigan undercover into Costello's crew.
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- Rotten Tomatoes91%
Trailer
Plot summary
In Boston, Irish mob boss Frank Costello takes an interest in a boy named Colin Sullivan and, over the years, steers him toward a career as a police officer who can keep him informed. Sullivan joins the Massachusetts State Police and is assigned to the Special Investigations Unit, whose main target is Costello. Billy Costigan, a recruit with family ties to organized crime, is pulled out of the academy by Captain Queenan and Sergeant Dignam, who want him to serve a prison term as cover and work his way into Costello's crew; only the two of them will know. Both men settle into their double lives, and Sullivan dates police psychiatrist Madolyn Madden, who is also Costigan's court-ordered therapist.
Cast
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about The Departed (2006)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- Jack Nicholson wanted "something a little more" than a usual gangster film, so screenwriter William Monahan based Frank Costello on Irish-American gangster Whitey Bulger. The FBI's carte blanche to Bulger in exchange for information on fellow gangsters gave the screenplay realism and an element of dangerous uncertainty.
- Brad Pitt was tentatively set to play Colin Sullivan but declined, saying a younger actor should play the part, and produced the film instead. Scorsese's associate Kenneth Lonergan suggested Boston-raised Matt Damon for Sullivan, and Scorsese asked Jack Nicholson to play Costello.
- Robert De Niro was approached to play Captain Queenan but declined to direct The Good Shepherd instead, and Scorsese said De Niro turned the role down because he was not interested. Ray Liotta also declined a part in the film due to a commitment to another project.
- The Departed won four Academy Awards, among them Best Picture, Best Director for Martin Scorsese, Best Film Editing for Thelma Schoonmaker and Best Adapted Screenplay for William Monahan. It was the first time Scorsese, after five previous losses, won an Oscar.
- Some of The Departed was shot on location in Boston, but many scenes, particularly interiors, were shot in New York City for budgetary and logistical reasons because New York then offered tax incentives that Boston did not.
