MOVIEWEB VIDEO OF THE DAY
The Departed is based on the Chinese-language Hong Kong gangster film Infernal Affairs, which starred Andy Lau and Tony Leung. The movie is set in South Boston, following the Massachusetts State Police Department trying to take down mob boss Frank Costello (Jack Nicholson) from the inside. A young rookie, Billy Costigan (Leonardo DiCaprio), who grew up in South Boston, is assigned to infiltrate the mob run by Costello. While Billy is working to gain Costello’s trust, another young cop who came up from the streets of “Southie,” Colin Sullivan (Matt Damon), is quickly rising through the ranks of the state police. Earning a spot in the Special Investigations Unit, Colin is among a handful of elite officers whose mission is to bring Costello down. But what his superiors don’t know is that Colin is working for Costello, keeping the crime boss one step ahead of the police.
The new series, which will also be based on Infernal Affairs, will be set in Chicago, following a young cop who infiltrates a dangerous Latino gang, while trying to find the gang’s own spy embedded within the police department. It doesn’t appear that Martin Scorsese, who won his first Oscar for directing The Departed will be involved in this TV series adaptation. This news comes just days after The CW set up a new series based on The Lost Boys, while CMT ordered a TV series adaptation of the 1998 movie Varsity Blues.
Jason Richman also created the 2013 ABC series Lucky 7 and has written episodes of the PBS series Mercy Street. He also wrote the big screen movies Bad Company starring Anthony Hopkins and Chris Rock, Swing Vote starring Kevin Costner and Bangkok Dangerous starring Nicolas Cage. We’ll be sure to keep you posted with the latest updates on The Departed TV series.
