No "Departed" in Toronto

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Warner Bros. has decided against showing Martin Scorsese's The Departed (Warner Bros., 10.6) at September's Toronto Film Festival. That's what they told me today. No comment but do the math. It may just be a good down-to-business crime movie and that's fine, but that's what Steven Soderbergh's The Limey was (to me anyway) and that played Toronto. Look at it this way: if The Departed was an "Oscar hopeful," as Movie City News is calling it right now (Friday at 5:11 pm), wouldn't it make sense to show it in Toronto? Of course it would. If The Departed had, say, a 12.15 release date WB might want to hold off unveiling it until early to mid-November, but The Departed's 10.6 release date makes it an ideal film to show at the Toronto Film Festival, which happens roughly a month earlier. Obviously WB is seeing some kind of downside in this.

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Posted by Jeffrey Wells on July 28, 2006 at 4:49 PM

comment #1

Anonymous says ...

You are saying that since a film does not play in Toronto, there must be issues with it? That makes absolutely little to no sense. Perhaps the studio has a different plan in mind and yes, i do know what i am talking about. Your opinion here is completely wrong and uninformed.

Posted by Anonymous at July 28, 2006 5:09 PM

comment #2

surfer girl says ...

and how many other films are not being shown at the Toronto Film fest, Jeffrey - do the math

Posted by surfer girl at July 28, 2006 5:16 PM

comment #3

Doug says ...

Just saw the trailer for Departed. I didn't know much about it, and my reaction to the trailer was "Cool, Nicholson. Wow, and Damon. What? Leonardo? And Alec Baldwin? And Martin Sheen? And was that Mark Wahlberg?" If this movie does not turn out to be a great guy's movie, I'll be sorely disappointed.

Posted by Doug at July 28, 2006 5:42 PM

comment #4

Daniel Zelter says ...

Looks good, but it seems more obsessed with the banter in Goodfellas than the drama in Infernal Affairs.

Posted by Daniel Zelter at July 28, 2006 6:33 PM

comment #5

Anonymous says ...

"Looks good, but it seems more obsessed with the banter in Goodfellas than the drama in Infernal Affairs."

That's good. GoodFellas was ten times the movie that the aggressively mediocre Infernal Affairs was.

Posted by Anonymous at July 28, 2006 6:40 PM

comment #6

Anonymous says ...

Is Jeff implying that studios never make wrong decisions?

Posted by Anonymous at July 28, 2006 6:47 PM

comment #7

Anonymous says ...

What is the big deal with Infernal Affairs? I found it to be pretty middle-of-the-road actioner.

Posted by Anonymous at July 28, 2006 6:47 PM

comment #8

Mathew says ...

It depends on what you define as "issues".

Honestly I got the impression from the trailer that the film will be a little on the hammy side. Nicholson specifically as he appears to be playing the mafia version of his Melvin Udall character. I swear if he would of concluded with "...good times and noodle salad." it would not have felt out of place. I don't see it as Oscar material but who cares if it is at least entertaining. I'm thinking it will be even if there is some un-intentional laughing throughout.

Posted by Mathew at July 28, 2006 6:55 PM

comment #9

bobby says ...

for those of you that havent seen Infernal Affairs...seek it out immediately. Its a great one.

Posted by bobby at July 28, 2006 7:01 PM

comment #10

Anonymous says ...

I really liked how William Monohan adapted... well, the original film. That said, I'm just not sold on Marty S anymore. Michael Mann should have done this.

Posted by Anonymous at July 28, 2006 7:03 PM

comment #11

Gabriel says ...

I hate to say it, but poorly-cast Leonardo Di Caprio is becoming as much of a Scorsese trademark as the tracking shot and the classic rock soundtrack.

Posted by Gabriel at July 28, 2006 7:43 PM

comment #12

lazarus says ...

It's at the point where Leonardo DiCaprio could appear in The Leonardo DiCaprio Story and people would cry "miscast!" Starting to sound like a broken record. When are we supposed to start accepting him as an adult? When he turns 40?

The guy is 32 in real life. 32. Is it impossible to accept him as a mid-twenties undercover cop?

I was under the impression he had quelled all doubts with a performance in The Aviator that only got better as the film progressed and Hughes became more damaged physically and psychologically. But apparently it's going to be quite a while until film geekdom is ready to unload its baggage and wake up. He may not be DeNiro, but he sure as hell ain't Josh Hartnett.

Posted by lazarus at July 28, 2006 8:01 PM

comment #13

Sheila H. says ...

It seems like a reasonably well put together trailer to me. All the actors look good. I think it seems less an oscar contender and more a pretty entertaining actioner and as far as I'm concerned, that's okay, even preferable. Scorsese will always be judged by his earlier work no matter what he does. Even if he makes a better than average cops/robbers/cat and mouse flick, it will never be good enough to equal his best stuff. We all should know that winning the oscar or even being nominated hardly indicates best quality by now anyways, shouldn't we? Infernal Affairs was pretty good/entertaining but I'd hardly call it "great", btw. I did very much like Tony Leung's performance, though. But I gotta say that from reading his column for a number of years now, Jeff is wrong about 30-40% of the time when he lets his instincts do the talking.

Posted by Sheila H. at July 28, 2006 8:37 PM

comment #14

Anonymous says ...

Did you guys see the very detailed review that appeared on Ain't It Cool a couple months back? I know, not the most reliable source. But this guy clearly wanted to like the movie and... well, he said he thought it was "salvageable." Anyway, everybody would probably be better off going into this one with diminished expectations, and then we can be pleasantly surprised.

Posted by Anonymous at July 28, 2006 9:27 PM

comment #15

Toby says ...

Unless it's not finish...it's totally to avoid bad buz.

Posted by Toby at July 28, 2006 10:46 PM

comment #16

Miami Vice stole my $12 says ...

"Michael Mann should have done this."

But WB wanted a GOOD movie.

Posted by Miami Vice stole my $12 at July 28, 2006 11:52 PM

comment #17

Anonymous says ...

"salvageable"=lie

Actual quote: "Anyway, I liked it, but IÃ¯Â¿Â½m really hoping Scorsese cuts this into something with a more consistent feel, even if that cuts into its epic ambitions."

Posted by Anonymous at July 29, 2006 12:39 AM

comment #18

Al Capone says ...

Is the trailer online? Kindly say where.

Posted by Al Capone at July 29, 2006 1:38 AM

comment #19

Jay says ...

The trailer looks awful. I doubt the whole film is any good. Scorsese hasn't made a good film since The Goodfellas. He should stop working with that pretty boy Leonardo DiCaprio. He just can't act.

Posted by Jay at July 29, 2006 2:13 AM

comment #20

Anonymous says ...

yea, i loved the goodfellas.whatever hapened to those guys?

Posted by Anonymous at July 29, 2006 2:47 AM

comment #21

Rob says ...

The Departed has one of the most forgettable trailers around. It looks like an entirely average big budget studio pic. As Jeffrey suggests, WB's decision to axe a preview show less than a month before it opens doesn't bode well either. Lol too, at the prickly defensiveness of Scorsese fans in this thread. Always amusing to see.

Posted by Rob at July 29, 2006 6:01 AM

comment #22

Sheila H. says ...

Actually in more detailed comments on another site, one of the reviewers--who actually can write--said the film was never less than entertaining and kept him in his seat, for whatever that's worth (a lot, if you ask me, judging by most films that even manage to get decent reviews these days). Again, if it's not an oscar contender, so be it. Also, out of curiosity, how many films in the recent past has Scorsese actually submitted to film festivals?

Posted by Sheila H. at July 29, 2006 6:37 AM

comment #23

Irish Pete says ...

I liked the trailer. Why, there's Van Morrison singing "Comfortably Numb." What's not to like?

Posted by Irish Pete at July 29, 2006 8:00 AM

comment #24

Gabby Hayes says ...

No single film Scorsese has made touches some of the atrocities that Clint Eastwood has directed, before Clint became a film-god-auteur and director of Unforgiven, Mystic River and Million Dollar Baby. So Marty's giving the studio a genre picture to make 'em happy, so what? He'll throw in a personal movie now and then, too. He's young. He's got time.

Posted by Gabby Hayes at July 29, 2006 8:04 AM

comment #25

Shannon says ...

Anyone who calls DiCaprio a "pretty boy" and claims he cannot act is totally ignorant and wrong and should never watch another film or discuss acting. Move on with your Titanic hatred already. It is beyond imbecilic at this point. DiCaprio has proved so many times how good he is. He has nothing to prove to a bunch of retro geeks with low I.Q.'s. If this film is good it will be because DiCaprio makes it good and I do not doubt that he will.

Posted by Shannon at July 29, 2006 8:38 AM

comment #26

Sheila H. says ...

Wells did make a good point in his original post on DiCaprio's appearance, though. I, too, think he should wear his hair a bit longer to soften the edges of his facial features. As to anything else about the actor, well, he has the face and voice that he has. Whether anyone likes him or not is one thing, but he does have gifts as an actor and he has the balls to try just about anything, whether it's the most suitable thing for him or not. Props for that at least.

Posted by Sheila H. at July 29, 2006 9:54 AM

comment #27

Compukiller says ...

How can this not be personal to Scorsese? It's a gangster/cop picture about murder, betrayal, wiseguys, dirty cops, and brutal violence. Kinda like Mean Streets. Or Goodfellas. Or casino. Or Gangs of New York. See where I am going with this?

Posted by Compukiller at July 29, 2006 6:02 PM

comment #28

Anonymous says ...

Rumor has it that this movie tested PHENOMENALLY for WB. Highest scores for one of their movies in a long time.

Posted by Anonymous at July 29, 2006 6:35 PM

comment #29

Daniel Zelter says ...

Infernal Affairs was great, because of the cat-and-mouse angle and the insight into the psyches of two cops on different sides of the law.

Posted by Daniel Zelter at July 29, 2006 10:16 PM

comment #30

Anonymous says ...

"Rumor has it that this movie tested PHENOMENALLY for WB. Highest scores for one of their movies in a long time."

Well, it's just a rumor at this point---a rumor any studio would be happy to trot out prior to their film's release, I might add.

Infernal Affairs was a very good film, at least the one I saw (there were three Infernal Affairs flicks which cover a roughly 10 year span in the lives of the protagonists). But I wouldn't call it great or classic. The interesting thing about this versus The Departed is how each will reflect different sensibilities---one very eastern and one western. The eastern case is that things aren't rushed and that honor and fate (Kharma?) are deeply intertwined. The western case moves faster, less honor and thought involved, and fate is determined primarily by action or the lack of it.

Posted by Anonymous at July 30, 2006 7:22 AM

comment #31

Alexander says ...

If Internal Affairs isn't great, then why did Scorsese remake it? Was he trying to make it great?

The trailer shows too much. For those of us who know the Internal Affairs story we pretty much say, "Yep, it's a remake of Internal Affairs." For those who don't, it's just too much in the trailer, particularly towards the end.

The running time--the last I had heard about a couple months back at 165 minutes--has me concerned. Unless Scorsese's going for a HEAT-like trance on the audience, I don't see this working too well.

Of course Warner Bros. feels this is stronger than anything they've done recently. The stuff they've done recently stinks to high heaven.

That said, even though I'm kind of skeptical on this one, I'm looking forward to it.

I do feel like I got a little burned by Miami Vice, though. As Mike Gebert said in another thread, it had the look down--but it had little soul.

Posted by Alexander at July 30, 2006 7:45 AM

comment #32

Anonymous says ...

Scorsese liked Monahan's script taken from the originals. He still claims he has never seen the original series at all. If Monahan's script follows the original, then of course it will look like the original in many respects, though hardly all. That doesn't automatically make it great in my book---not even if "he" wanted to make it. However, where films are concerned, greatness is only proven over time, I suppose. Several of Scorsese's films didn't receive overwhelming praise when they initially were shown; only with the passage of time did they begin to catch fire.

As for the film remaining in the 165 minute range, exceedingly doubtful. He's been involved in recent reshoots and is likely still editing the film into something hopefully better and more succinct than the version shown recently, something which he is known to do up to the very last minute it seems.

The trailer shows enough to indicate what the film is about...and that there is a fair amount of action and hopefully interesting complex characters. If you've seen the original, then of course you know basically what happens, but there may well be twists in this one that would hardly be shown in a 2 minute trailer of a 1 1/2 hr to 2 film.

Nicholson easily has the most colorful and not incidentally scene-chewing character in this.

Posted by Anonymous at July 30, 2006 12:53 PM

comment #33

Daniel Zelter says ...

Alex: "If Internal Affairs isn't great, then why did Scorsese remake it? Was he trying to make it great?"

That's the argument Quentin apologists make for Reservoir Dogs.

Posted by Daniel Zelter at July 30, 2006 9:40 PM

comment #34

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