Mark Wahlberg Opens Up About His Clash With Scorsese While Filming ‘The Departed’

“The Departed” (2006) was an incredible film with a star-studded star cast led by Leonardo DiCaprio. The film was a critical and commercial success and bagged four Oscars. Directed by Martin Scorsese, the film was undoubtedly one of his best works to date, which not only has a complex plotline but also has an even intriguing backstory attached to it.  Among the star-stacked cast of “The Departed” is also renowned Mark Wahlberg, who recently shared that he had some notorious clash with Scorsese during filming.

What was the cause of the beef between Mark Wahlberg and Martin Scorsese during The Departed?

During 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. The root cause behind this beef between the actor and the filmmaker was Wahlberg’s hair extension. The actor revealed during the podcast that he got hair extensions for Invincible, his next movie, and he refused to remove them after his filming as Dignam (the character he played in The Departed) went longer than expected.

Wahlberg explained, 

“I was a little pissed about a couple of 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, 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], Matt [Damon], Leo [DiCaprio], Alec [Baldwin], the studio, and everybody else 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, and 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.”

Despite some disagreements between Wahlberg and Scorsese regarding certain aspects of the production and the interpretation of Dignam’s character, the film’s reception made it all worthwhile in the end. 

All about ‘The Departed’

“The Departed” is a 2006 American crime thriller film directed by Martin Scorsese and written by William Monahan. It is loosely based on the real-life Boston Winter Hill Gang and stars Oscar-winning actor Leonardo DiCaprio as the lead protagonist, alongside Matt Damon, Jack Nicholson, Martin Sheen, Mark Wahlberg, and Alec Baldwin. 

The film follows the story of Billy Costigan (DiCaprio), an undercover cop who works to identify a mole in the Boston police department. 

The film was a critical and commercial success, earning $291.5 million worldwide on a budget of $90 million. It received acclaim for its direction, performances (particularly of DiCaprio, Nicholson, and Wahlberg), screenplay, and editing. It won several accolades, including four Oscars at the 79th Academy Awards: for Best Picture, Best Director, Best Adapted Screenplay, and Best Film Editing.