For directorMartin Scorsese,The Departedrepresents the ultimate career breakthrough. Up until his 2006 crime drama, the legendary filmmaker had never been the recipient of a Best Director or Best Picture Oscar. Two of his Director nominations,Raging BullandGoodfellas, were both lost to actors in their directorial debuts,Robert RedfordandKevin Costner, respectively. It appeared as though Scorsese wascursed from ever receiving that coveted statue. The tide had finally turned withThe Departed, which won four Oscars, including Best Picture and Director. But underneath the triumphant success of the film in awards season was a distribution process that was marred by controversy, as a result ofThe Departed’s banning in a country on the other side of the world.
‘The Departed’s Oscar Success Overshadowed the Film’s Controversy in China
Scorsese’s film, a remake of the Hong Kong crime thriller,Infernal Affairs, is a continuation of the director’s fascination with the murky line between protagonist and antagonist. It chronicles a Massachusetts state police cadet, Billy Costigan (Leonardo DiCaprio), who infiltrates an Irishorganized crime gang led by Frank Costello(Jack Nicholson), as well as a disciple of Costello’s, Colin Sullivan (Matt Damon), who infiltrates the state police. They each serve as moles intending to undermine their enemy’s method of operations, but both gradually develop their own motivations. Despiteuniversal acclaim for the film upon release, the Academy Awards championingThe Departedis still viewed with distaste. Seen as a lesser film in Scorsese’s filmography,The Departedwinning Best Picture is cited as another instance of the Oscarshonoring artists past their prime, likening Scorsese’s win as a glorified lifetime achievement award. In hisemotionally vulnerable 2023GQcover story, the director revealed that he still feels like a pariah in the Academy’s eyes.
A passing note inWilliam Monahan’s script amounted to a distribution crisis for Warner Bros, the studio behindThe Departed. In the film, Costello’s crew, having stolen microprocessors, intends to sell this advanced military hardware to an international crime syndicate on the black market. Earlier in the film, preceding the sequences in which the transaction is executed, Dignam (Mark Wahlberg), the hard-nosed, brash sergeant for the Massachusetts state police, mentions in a conference with other detectives that Costello is shipping the hardware to China. The traders that Costello deals with are from Hong Kong, an homage to the original film thatThe Departedis based on. Hong Kong is a special administrative region of China, separate from the mainland but ultimately under its control.
A source forThe Hollywood Reporterinformed them that, upon awards season,The Departedwould be denied a cinematic release in China due to the inclusion of the nation in the film’s plot. Domestic distributors refused to alter the subplot about Chinese criminals illicitly purchasing microprocessors, thus ending the film’s chances of being released in the nation or passing its censorship board. The anonymous source expressed, “That part of the plot is definitely unnecessary.” Furthermore, the source, who is close to China’s regulators, added that the regulation board could not understand why the movie wanted to involve China. “They can talk about Iran or Iraq or whatever, but there’s no reason to get China in,” the source continued. This verdict was confirmed by another anonymous source in the Chinese government and an executive at Media Asia,The Departed’s distribution company in China. Some executives speculated thatscenes of jarring violenceled to the film’s banning, but all signs point towards the seemingly innocuous plot line surrounding microprocessors.
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China’s Colossal Impact on Hollywood Filmmaking and Distribution
While the ruling was deflating for Warner Bros,The Hollywood Reporternoted that the population of China would have ample opportunity to watchThe Departed, as pirated versions of the DVD were selling off the street at the time. Nevertheless, this was a blow to Warner Bros’ capitalization of the film at the global box office. China’s relationship with Hollywood in recent history has been a tumultuous yet vital partnership. Worldwide box-office totals are heavily reliant on a film’s performance in the Asian country. A film likeTransformers: The Last Knightmay greatly underperform in the U.S., butfinancial prosperity in Chinasaved it from being a flop. The content of major tent-pole releases has previously been influenced by appeasing the nation, such as when the 2012 remake ofRed Dawnpivoted from a Chinese antagonist to a North Korean one. In the case of another 2012 film,Looper,additional scenes filmed in Shanghaiwere included in the Chinese release of the film.
Coincidentally, Disney, under their Touchstone division, landed in hot waters with China after the release ofKundun, a 1997 Martin Scorsese filmabout the life of the 14th Dalai Lamaunder Chinese oppression. Following the film’s release, then-CEOMichael Eisnerapologized to China’s governmentfor distributing the film, after he already sought to bury its release (with the help of former Secretary of StateHenry Kissinger) to secure the rights to build a theme park in Shanghai. Since theKundunfiasco, Disney has gotten rich off of China’s box office, but content inMarvel films in recent years, includingEternalsandShang-Chi, caused the government to deny these films from being released in China.
The story ofThe Departed’s denial of a Chinese release and the greater machinations of the country’s influence on Hollywood speaks to Scorsese’s disenchantment with the film industry that herevealed with sobering franknessin his recentGQfeature story. He reckons that the industry he once knew is dead and gone, and his struggles to finance films and protect his vision from studio meddling have dispirited him.The Departed, a film that should haveconnotations of victory and validationas his first and only Best Picture winner, instead was soured by Warner Bros' request to have one of the main characters kept alive. According to Scorsese’s conjecture, the studio envisioned a scenario whereThe Departedcould betransformed into a franchise. This upset the director, who said, “They wanted the franchise. Which means: I can’t work here anymore.” He has not worked with Warner Bros since.
Filmmaking and Hollywood at large are unfortunately not solely predicated on the films themselves and the artists behind them. There are always overarching economic and political implications undermining the artistic integrity of the medium. RegardingThe Departed, this story ended in an inspiring fashion, unlike many of Martin Scorsese’s stories. The film was not altered to acquiesce to China’s demands. However, if recent Hollywood history taught us anything, it is that artistic license is prone to take a backseat to being favorable towards politics overseas.
