Martin Scorsese Says WB Execs Were ‘Very Sad’ He Refused to Make ‘The Departed’ a Franchise, Spent His Own $500K to Finish ‘Aviator’ After Studios Cut Funding: ‘Extremely Mean’
variety.comZack Sharf Digital News Director Martin Scorsese revealed in an interview with GQ magazine that Warner Bros. wished to turn his Oscar winner “The Departed” into a franchise, much to his disagreement.
The movie stars Leonardo DiCaprio as a Massachusetts State Police officer and Matt Damon as a Boston gang member who go undercover to infiltrate each other’s organizations. “The Departed” ends with the memorable deaths of both characters, but Warner Bros.
allegedly wanted to keep one character alive so that a sequel could get made. “What they wanted was a franchise. It wasn’t about a moral issue of a person living or dying,” Scorsese said, noting that test screening audiences loved his version of the film where both characters died. “And then the studio guys walked out [of the same test screening] and they were very sad, because they just didn’t want that movie.
They wanted the franchise. Which means: I can’t work here anymore.” “The Departed” was the third film in a row where Scorsese ended up thinking he could no longer work in Hollywood.
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