Mark Wahlberg and Martin Scorsese had a history before their ‘The Departed’ collaboration.

SUMMARY

Martin Scorsese and Mark Wahlberg collaborated in the 2006 crime thriller ‘The Departed.’
The actor revealed that he had bit of a turbulence with Scorsese before agreeing to the movie.
While Wahlberg initially said no to the project Scorsese convinced the actor to join the project.

It is almost fascinating to learn the vividly exposed differences between Mark Wahlberg and Martin Scorsese. The actor-director duo constantly struggled to get along as their differences reached their peak in Scorsese’s 2006 crime thriller The Departed.

Mark Wahlberg in The Departed
Initially, the Ted actor rejected the film citing that he was not interested in the Scorsese movie that came out to be a masterpiece. However, the actor was in a dilemma when his agent made a commitment on behalf of the actor of his availability while he was trying to distance himself from the project, as Wahlberg candidly confessed to GQ.

Martin Scorsese Managed to Convince Mark Wahlberg For The Departed

Martin Scorsese. Image: GQ/YT
Martin Scorsese is a Hollywood legend while Mark Wahlberg forged himself to be an A-lister in the industry. The actor-director duo was united in The Departed but it was not a smooth ride for both of them. Speaking with GQ in 2019, Wahlberg revealed, “Marty called me up and he was so excited about making this movie together. I said, ‘I’m not doing the movie.’” Later, the actor met Scorsese in person and the director did his magic convincing Wahlberg.

“I read the script again, and I was pretty angry and I said again I wasn’t going to do it. Marty told me, ‘Look at this part, look at what you get to do with all these people.’ He knows I’m from that [Boston] world and I talked to him about improvising and doing my own thing and he said, ‘Dude, you’re free to do what you want to do,’”

But it was the beginning of the lengthy turbulence they had surrounding the movie. Scorsese was dead set on bringing Wahlberg on set while the actor was trying to drift away as the gravitational pull of the movie was not strong enough to bend his mind to say yes immediately.

The Turbulence Between Martin Scorsese and Mark Wahlberg Continued For A While

Mark Wahlberg in a still from The Departed
Scorsese eventually convinced the actor to do his part. In a chat with The Telegraph, Wahlberg who played Staff Sergeant Sean Dignam in the crime thriller said: “Marty and I were constantly in this struggle. I had problems with Marty” Appearing on the Happy Sad Confused podcast, the actor commented more on the issue. “I was only supposed to do a couple of weeks on The Departed so I was able to grow my hair for Invincible,” Wahlberg said.

“But then the schedule changed, and four months later, I’m still working on The Departed, so I wouldn’t cut my hair and Marty was pissed off. He was like, ‘You’ve got to cut your f—ing hair,’ and I was, ‘I don’t give a f–k.”

But looking back the Uncharted star revealed that he understands now. “I understand where Marty was coming from,” he said. “He had to deal with Jack, he had to deal with Matt and Leo and everything — the studio and everyone else that was in the cast,” the actor added. The 52-year-old gym shark further revealed that now he is glad that he agreed to appear in the film.

The Departed can be rented on video-on-demand platforms including Apple TV and Prime Video.