Summary

• Mark Wahlberg reveals that he tried to improv lines as Dignam while filming The Departed, but Jack Nicholson then spoke to Martin Scorsese, who shut the improv down.
• The Departed has become well know for its improvised moments, particularly those involving Nicholson's Costello.
• Some of Nicholson's ideas for the film included adding a gun to his interrogation of Leonardo DiCaprio's character and adding a dildo to a scene with Matt Damon.

Mark Wahlberg recalls Jack Nicholson shutting down his improvisation while filming Martin Scorsese's The Departed stars Leonardo DiCaprio as Billy, an undercover cop attempting to infiltrate Costello's (Nicholson) criminal organization while uncovering a mole in the police department. The crime thriller features a standout cast, including Matt Damon, Alec Baldwin, and Martin Sheen, with Wahlberg playing Dignam, a prickly sergeant in the Massachusetts State Police.

During a recent interview with Jake's Takes, Wahlberg recalls that he attempted to do some improvising while filming The Departed.

It turns out, however, that Nicholson didn't totally love Wahlberg's improv, and a "little chat" with Scorsese ensued. Check out Wahlberg's recollection of events below:

“I was improvising throughout the movie and my character obviously didn’t have nice things to say to anybody. So I said some unpleasantries to Jack and he gave me a look that nobody else gave me. And of course, Marty, I did one more and they both had a little chat and then they said, you know, make sure that that’s the end of that.”

The Departed's Improv Explained

Jack Nicholson Brought A Lot Of His Own Ideas

The Departed was nominated for five Oscars and ended up winning four, including Best Picture and Best Adapted Screenplay. Clearly, William Monahan's script for the film was airtight, but that doesn't mean there wasn't a great deal of improv happening on set. Numerous behind-the-scenes stories from The Departed, for example, have become legend, particularly those involving Nicholson's Costello performance.

The Departed's inspiration for Nicholson's Costello was real-life crime boss Whitey Bulger.

Nicholson told Variety in 2007 that he improvised parts of a key scene with DiCaprio in which he intimidates and interrogates Billy. According to the actor, he requested that the prop department "hide a gun on the set," with the weapon not having been written into the script. When Costello pulls the gun out while talking to Billy, there's real fear on DiCaprio's face, and it totally changes the dynamic of the scene.

Damon would similarly reveal to FilmInk that it was Nicholson's idea to flash a dildo during a scene set in a porn theater. Damon also shared on the WTF With Marc Maron podcast that Nicholson brought some of his own sinister ideas to a scene in The Departed in which Costello executes a woman, with the actor pushing to include several lines about how she "fell funny" after he shot her. While Nicholson certainly seems to have done a lot of improvising while filming The Departed, Wahlberg's story suggests playing Dignam meant sticking more to what appears in the script.

Source: Jake's Takes