Matt Damon discusses a scene with Leonardo DiCaprio on the set The Departed.

The Departed Production Notes

Chapter 2: Cops or criminals... When you're facing a loaded fun, what's the difference? Leonardo DiCaprio stars as Billy Costigan, a promising cadet at the Massachusetts State Police Academy, who is selected for a dangerous undercover assignment before he has even had a chance to pin on a badge. The actor says that the role represented more than an opportunity to work again with Scorsese. “I read the script and immediately wanted to be a part of it. I just couldn’t put it down, and I said ‘yes’ without any deliberation or hesitation. I thought it was a really intense story with multifaceted and very compelling characters.” Billy Costigan came up from the streets of Boston, and DiCaprio remarks that his character’s motivation to become a police officer is rooted in his desire to escape his upbringing. “Billy comes from an underworld background and has all the chips stacked against him in a lot of ways. I think he joins the police force because he has no other options, and he wants to do things differently than his family did. Ironically, he is asked to go undercover and pretend to be the very thing he was determined not to become. At the heart of it, I think Billy is ultimately trying to redeem himself and not just be a product of his environment, but he ends up deep in a situation that is extremely dangerous and deceitful. There are moments when he could so easily be caught—all the arrows are pointing in his direction as the ‘rat,’ and everything begins to cave in around him.” Scorsese notes, “As an actor, I knew Leo would convey the conflict of a young man who has gotten himself into a bad situation and then wonders what the hell he is doing there. You can see it in his face; you can see it in his eyes. That’s one of the reasons I like working with Leo; he knows how to express emotional impact without saying a word. It just emanates from him. It is quite extraordinary to watch.” Colin Sullivan is another member of the Massachusetts State Police Force with roots in South Boston who is also leading a double life, although Colin’s is the mirror opposite of Billy’s. A native of Boston himself, Matt Damon stars in the role of Colin, a young hotshot in the department, who has quickly risen to the rank of sergeant in the elite Special Investigations Unit while his Academy classmates are still in uniform. However, despite what he has led his superiors to believe, there is only one authority to whom Colin actually reports: mob boss Frank Costello. “Matt brought a lot to the part of Colin,” states Scorsese. “I love that you can see his mind working as Colin is trying to figure his way out of his latest predicament and save himself, even as he gets himself in deeper and deeper over his head. In a way, Colin is an even more tragic character than Billy, because he truly believes he will get away with everything and that, by aligning himself with evil, he has created an inroad to redemption, so to speak, represented by the upper class society of Beacon Hill and the State House—that golden dome he keeps staring at. In the beginning of the picture, you see Costello teaching Colin a false set of values and, by a certain point in time, Colin has no values at all.” Damon offers, “In Colin’s neighborhood, the character of Frank Costello is bigger than life. Everybody knows who he is and is terrified of him. The first time Colin comes in contact with him, Colin is about 12 years old, and that kind of interaction would be incredibly meaningful to a kid from that neighborhood. Costello is even more powerful than a father figure in Colin’s mind, and you see the relationship develop from the very beginning.” Costello can afford to bide his time because, as Damon says, “Inevitably, boys grow into men and Costello knows he will be able to use the loyalty Colin has for him. He gets Colin to join the state police to act as an informant for him. So while one guy is an undercover cop in the mob, the other is a cop undercover for the mob.” “Our characters are two sides of the same coin, even coming from the same neighborhood,” DiCaprio agrees. “Colin chose one path and Billy chose another, but their lives are intertwined…linked in ways they could never understand. It becomes this really intriguing chess game of information and disinformation.” The most obvious link between Billy and Colin is their unknowingly shared connection to Frank Costello, who is portrayed by the legendary Jack Nicholson. “The Departed” marks the first collaboration between Nicholson and Scorsese, although, the director says, “Jack and I have known each other for 30 years. For some reason, we had never quite connected on a movie, so I thought it would be interesting to see if he had any desire to take on the role of Costello. It may have taken a long time, but it was worth the wait because we had quite a time together on this picture.” Graham King recalls, “When Marty first mentioned Jack Nicholson for the role, I thought we were dreaming, but it became a reality. Jack took the character of Costello to another level, as only he could do. There are so many of what I call ‘Jack moments’ in the film, which are just terrific.” “Jack really made the character his own,” Scorsese attests. “Costello has had everything in life, so he doesn’t give a damn about anything anymore. And why should he? He has all the power. But now, he starts taking too many risks, like putting himself on the front lines of drug deals. He knows he doesn’t have to do that; it’s just for the thrill of it at this point in his life. Costello has gotten too old, and he knows, ultimately, he is probably on his way out. It was interesting to watch Jack portray Costello starting to unravel.” “Jack Nicholson is a force of nature,” DiCaprio adds. “He can be very unpredictable when he’s on camera, so you have to learn to roll with the punches. I mean there were moments during filming that I didn’t know what was going to happen next; I was never sure which side of Costello he was going to be playing on any particular day. That can be very exciting for an actor to play against, because it really keeps you on your toes.”  Next Chapter: Casting Other Supporting Characters

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