"The Departed," which won the 2006 Academy Award for Best Picture and is widely considered one of Martin Scorsese's best films, may be coming to the small screen. "Departed" producer Roy Lee teased the possibility of a TV version of the dark Boston crime thriller in a recent interview. Unfortunately, Leonardo DiCaprio will not be joining (obviously).
"That's what attracted me to the story," Lee told Collider of the "amazing" concept that fueled the film and its 2002 Hong Kong inspiration "Internal Affairs." "It's the two moles working on either side of the law, and translating that idea into other settings with new characters, like how Fargo has taken the feel of the Coen Brothers' film."
According to Lee, he has already held discussions with possible writers and debated which route - network or cable - to take with an adaptation.
"So it's not anything like The Departed," Lee said of moving the setting to a new city, "but essentially The Departed as a TV series."
If they're going to faithfully adapt "The Departed," our advice is to go with cable. It would be difficult to pull off the necessary tone given the restrictions of network TV. As moviegoers well remember, "The Departed" is saturated with strong language, violence and sexual situations, all of which don't fly well with major networks. As we saw with "Fargo" and "True Detective," gritty crime stories are best suited for the freer airwaves of cable.
The original star-studded cast led by DiCaprio, Jack Nicholson, Matt Damon and Mark Whalberg will likely have little to do with the new TV series. That means no brief cameos like Bradley Cooper in "Limitless" or maybe even Ethan Hawke in the planned "Training Day" TV show. While that is undoubtedly a bummer, a "Departed" styled TV series still sounds like an interesting watch.
We'll keep you posted as more details begin to emerge.
