Undercover cop Billy Costigan (Leonardo DiCaprio) infiltrates Boston's Irish mob, led by Frank Costello (Jack Nicholson) in The Departed.

The Departed Production Notes

Chapter 3: Casting Other Supporting Characters There are only two people in the Massachusetts State Police who know the newest addition to Costello’s crew is an undercover cop: Captain Queenan and Sergeant Dignam. Mark Wahlberg stars as Sergeant Dignam, a hard-nosed detective who, the actor acknowledges, “is a mean, miserable guy, and he is not going to pretend to be anything else. He is very in-your-face, but, at the same time, he’s pretty on the level.” “Mark Wahlberg is just remarkable as Dignam,” Scorsese says. “He comes from the Boston area, so he knows that world fairly well and really knew this character. Dignam is who he is; nothing is going to change his attitude towards anyone or anything. He’s seen it all and heard it all, and there is nothing you can put past him. You can try, but he’ll always have an answer for you, and it will most likely be only two words…I think you know what they are,” Scorsese laughs. Raised in the working-class neighborhood of Dorchester, Wahlberg found it natural to revert to his native Boston accent, although, he jokes, “I don’t think Marty knew what I was saying half the time. He would say, ‘We might have to use subtitles at some point.’” Describing his hometown as “a pretty rough place to grow up,” Wahlberg asserts, “There is only one Boston. It has a reputation as this amazing school town, but there are also those neighborhoods where you are either going to become a crook or a cop or a construction worker. There’s not too much in-between. My being raised there has an effect on everything I do, whether it’s obvious or not. I didn’t have to do much homework for this movie—I’ve known a lot of these guys—the only difference is I was playing one of the cops who used to arrest me all the time.” Countering Dignam’s abrasive style is the level-headed Captain Queenan, played by Martin Sheen. The actor reveals that he took the part even before reading the script. “What made me say ‘yes’ almost instantly was the opportunity to work with Martin Scorsese. I had never worked with him before, but he has always been one of my favorite directors. With that in mind, how could I make a mistake? Then, of course, I read the script, and I thought it was a great story of divided loyalties and betrayal in the context of law enforcement and criminality. Sometimes they mix and overlap, and you’re hard-pressed to tell the difference.” Sheen adds that, while Queenan is not unsympathetic to Billy’s growing desperation, he cannot afford to let that interfere with the objective. “He understands that Billy’s identity has been swallowed up by going undercover. Except for Queenan and Dignam, the cops know Billy only as a gangster and, if Costello discovers he’s a cop, he’s a goner. It’s a precarious position because both sides could take him out at any time.” Billy’s real identity isn’t even known to the head of the Special Investigations Unit, Captain Ellerby, portrayed by Alec Baldwin. “Ellerby is obsessed with bringing down Costello and smashing his crime ring,” Baldwin states. “He views Costello as being violent and depraved, so Ellerby is willing to bend the rules to suit his purposes. But he is a good cop, nonetheless.” Although Frank Costello has more than earned his violent reputation, he has rarely done his own dirty work. Instead, he relies on a gang of brutal henchmen, none more so than the one who goes by the name Mr. French. British actor Ray Winstone, who plays the role of Costello’s top man, describes his character as “one of those guys you get nothing from—he doesn’t trust anyone, doesn’t like anyone…probably doesn’t like himself. To him, everyone is a rat. As an actor, I’m always trying to find the emotion in a character, the weaknesses as well as the strengths. It started to dawn on me early on that French is without emotion. Nothing rattles him, and nothing frightens him, but if you get in his way, he’ll kill you without a second thought. His only loyalty is to Costello.” The one main character in “The Departed” who is neither a cop nor a criminal is also the only woman. Vera Farmiga plays Madolyn, a psychiatrist who specializes in dealing with troubled people on both sides of the law. In a twist of fate, she becomes another unwitting link between Colin, the man she is seeing romantically, and Billy, the man she starts out seeing professionally. Farmiga offers, “To Madolyn, Colin appears to be a man who has it all together. He represents security and commitment for her, while Billy is more intimacy and passion. He seems to be a bit of a derelict, but they are drawn to each other.” DiCaprio notes, “Madolyn is the only emotional connection Billy has. She is the one person Billy can confide in, although in a very limited way because he can’t reveal anything about himself or what he’s doing. As his counselor, she tries to help him initially, but then a stronger bond develops between them.” “What I liked about the character of Madolyn is that you have this psychiatrist who is intuitive, but who is not following her own instincts. I loved that contradiction,” says Farmiga. Rounding out the main cast of “The Departed” are: Anthony Anderson and James Badge Dale as state troopers Brown and Barrigan, who eventually become part of the Special Investigations Unit; and David O’Hara and Mark Rolston as Fitzy and Delahunt, two of Costello’s henchmen. “One of the best parts of producing a Scorsese film is the casting,” Graham King remarks. “Marty has a way of picking the most amazing actors for each role, and this film was no exception.” Matt Damon offers, “Working with Martin Scorsese is about as good as it gets for an actor. I learned so much just watching him shoot this movie. He has a great eye for behavior and for discerning what’s real and what’s not. So many of the brilliant moments for which he’s been responsible have been those that delve into character. As actors, we love to explore those moments; that is one of the reasons we all want to do his movies.” “How does one make a motion picture?” Scorsese proposes. “You make it with different instruments, so to speak. The story, the language, the milieu, the people portraying the parts—these are all instruments. Of all these extraordinary elements, the one I tend to rely on most often to tell the story is the cast. To have the actors we had in this film all together was remarkable.”  Next Chapter: Act Accordingly

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