“I Was A Little Pissed”: Mark Wahlberg Explains Clashing With Scorsese Filming The Departed

The Departed star Mark Wahlberg addresses the behind-the-scenes clashes that occurred with Martin Scorsese. Leonardo DiCaprio leads The Departed‘s cast as Billy, an undercover cop who works to identify a mole in the Boston police department. The film, which took home four Oscars, features a stacked cast, with Matt Damon, Jack Nicholson, Martin Sheen, and Alec Baldwin also starring. Wahlberg played Dignam in the film, a hot-headed Sergeant, and he notoriously had some friction with Scorsese during filming.

In a recent interview with Josh Horowitz on the Happy Sad Confused podcast, Wahlberg addresses his behind-the-scenes issues with Scorsese while filming The Departed, touching on how his hair became a particular sticking point.

The actor reveals that scheduling issues with filming for his next movie, Invincible, became a key point of contention because he was growing his hair out for the role. Check out Wahlberg’s full comment below:

“I was a little pissed about a couple things, but look, it all worked out in the end. Originally, I was supposed to play another part. Originally, I was supposed to get paid. And even when we agreed that I would play Dignam and I saw the advantages of playing that part and how I would approach the situation with everybody else playing opposite me. I had another movie after, so I just finished Four Brothers and I was going into Invincible after and I was trying to grow my hair out…

“But I completely understand where Marty was coming from. He had to deal with Jack [Nicholson], he had to deal with Matt [Damon] and Leo [DiCaprio] and Alec [Baldwin] and everything, the studio, and everybody else that was in the cast.

“And I was supposed to be in and out in five weeks. So I went off to go and shoot Invincible, got my hair extensions, came back. And then they were like, ‘You gotta take out the extensions.’ I was like, ‘Sh*t took eight hours, I’m not taking them out.’ So we had a couple of issues but ultimately when I read that particular role, I was like okay this is a good role. This is an opportunity for me to really kind of go off and have some fun.”

The Departed Was Worth It In The End

The 2006 Martin Scorsese Movie Was A Critical & Commercial Hit

Although Wahlberg and Scorsese evidently didn’t see eye-to-eye about all aspects of the production and the character of Dignam, The Departed‘s reception evidently made it all worth it in the end. Scorsese’s expansive filmography includes classics like Goodfellas, Taxi Driver, Casino, The Wolf of Wall Street, and more, but The Departed remains the only film for which Scorsese won the Best Director Oscar. The movie also took home the statue for Best Picture, and Wahlberg himself was nominated for Best Supporting Actor.

The Departed was also a commercial success, ultimately earning $291.5 million worldwide on a budget of $90 million. This total includes $132.4 million domestic and $159.1 million from overseas territories. This box office total also doesn’t include the revenue the film will have generated from VOD and physical media sales over the last 18 years.

Scorsese’s best movie will always be a matter of personal preference, but there’s no denying that The Departed remains one of his successful films both critically and commercially. The performances by The Departed‘s cast are also some of the biggest and boldest of any Scorsese movie, with Wahlberg, especially, giving a very loud and unique voice to Dignam. Almost 20 years later, it seems like Wahlberg agrees that the movie, for all its behind-the-scenes troubles, turned out well in the end.