Martin Scorsese Reveals 'The Departed' Alternate Ending He Hated

The studio apparently weren't pleased with the way the Oscar-winning crime epic wrapped up its story.

By Andrew Roberts

Martin Scorsese recently returned to theaters for another awards season with Killers of the Flower Moon, re-teaming with Leonardo DiCaprio and Robert DeNiro, but also giving Best Actress nominee Lily Gladstone time to shine. But in a recent interview with GQ, Scorsese delivered an interesting tidbit about another of his classic in the Oscar-winning The Departed.

In between commenting on the state of the film industry and trashing comic book movie fans a bit, Scorsese admits that Warner Bros. was pushing for a change to the ending of the movie. Spoilers ahead for The Departed if you've never watched.

According to the interview (per Deadline), Scorsese said that WB wanted to keep the leads alive at the end of the film. "What they wanted was a franchise," Scorsese says. "It wasn't about a moral issue of a person living or dying." The film went on to win the legendary filmmaker his first Best Director award and went on to win Best Picture.

Scorsese added that the studio was, "very sad, because they just didn't want that movie. They wanted the franchise. Which means, I can't work here any more." This opened the door for his takes on Hollywood's insistence on franchises, riling up a lot of folks with short memories and a love for a lot of the movies that made the current business model possible.

"The danger there is what it's doing to our culture, because there are going to be generations now that think movies are only those – that's what movies are," Scorsese noted. "We have to then fight back stronger. And it's got to come from the grassroots level. It's gotta come from the filmmakers themselves."

He also added that "manufactured content" isn't truly cinema in his mind while still urging other filmmakers to "reinvent" the business and not complain. The odd bit here is that The Departed is a remake of Infernal Affairs out of Hong Kong, taking a bit from each of the three films in the series to craft the Oscar-winner.

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