The Departed's Shocking Ending Made WB Bosses "Very Sad," Scorsese Says

The Oscar-winning mobster movie The Departed is a modern classic, and one of Martin Scorsese's best films. Predictably, the studio behind it wanted to make it a franchise. However, the movie ends with deaths of its two main characters, and that apparently made the studio bosses at Warner Bros. "very sad," according to Scorsese.

He told GQ that, "What they wanted was a franchise. It wasn't about a moral issue of a person living or dying."

In the movie, Leonardo DiCaprio's character is shockingly killed near the conclusion as he steps out of an elevator. Matt Damon's character dies a bit later when Mark Wahlberg's character tracks him down and shoots him in his home. Scorsese told GQ that he remembers a test screening for the movie where everyone seemed to enjoy what happened except the studio bosses.

"Then the studio guys walked out and they were very sad, because they just didn't want that movie. They wanted the franchise. Which means: I can't work here any more," Scorsese said.

Indeed, Scorsese never worked with Warner Bros. again, but he did make another big studio movie, Shutter Island, with Paramount. Scorsese now funds his movies independently, with Paramount distributing. His next movie, Killers of the Flower Moon, will release in theaters through Paramount and later on Apple TV.

The Departed won Best Picture at the 2007 Academy Awards, giving Scorsese his first Oscar win after previously being nominated for Raging Bull, The Last Temptation of Christ, Goodfellas, Gangs of New York, and The Aviator.

Mark Wahlberg, who played staff sergeant Sean Dignam in The Departed, pitched a sequel idea for The Departed featuring Robert De Niro and Brad Pitt, but it never materialized. There were plans for a Departed TV show, too, but it also never came together.

Scorsese's The Departed is based on the 2002 movie Infernal Affairs.