"The Departed" marks the third collaboration between Hollywood A-list actor Leonardo DiCaprio and America's reigning auteur, director Martin Scorsese.
When the two first collaborated on "Gangs of New York" in 2002, no one could have expected that DiCaprio would be Scorsese's new De Niro, the actor who collaborated on nearly all the director's best films: "Taxi Driver," "Raging Bull" and "Goodfellas." But according to the director, "there's something between the two of us, maybe we feel about life the same way, even though there's 30 years' difference between the two of us."
DiCaprio, appearing with his director at a Roppongi Hills press conference for "The Departed," described their continuing collaboration as "just a natural progression. It's never been a master plan, it's been like, wow, here's a new script, who do you like working with, well, I'd love to work with Scorsese again. He had a similar reaction, and it just sort of happened that way."