Mark Wahlberg had a meeting with Warner Bros where he pitched a sequel to The Departed – but things did not go to plan.
Martin Scorsese’s 2006 remake of the film Infernal Affairs, The Departed, was the movie that finally won him a Best Director Academy Awards, as well as winning an Oscar for Best Picture too.
Amongst the other nominations the film garnered, Mark Wahlberg picked up a nod for Best Supporting Actor. And the film feels like something of a turning point for him too, which perhaps is one of the reasons he was keen to pursue a follow-up.
He worked with screenwriter William Monahan, and the pair went into Warner Bros to pitch their idea for what The Departed 2 could be. Chatting to KFC Radio, he said “let’s just say the pitch didn’t go very well. He really didn’t have anything fleshed out, but he’s the kind of guy you just trust to go and write something”.
Things petered out quickly by the sounds of it, but not before Wahlberg had considered bringing in Robert De Niro and Brad Pitt for the new film. He’s mum on what the story would have been (and Infernal Affairs had sequels, so some path had been laid), but Warner Bros didn’t bite anyway. Scorsese too had been frustrated working with the studio on The Departed – something we covered in a podcast episode here – and thus the chances of him returning weren’t high.
Still, you can hear Wahlberg chat about his plan here.
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