Mark Wahlberg reveals tensions with Martin Scorsese on The Departed set: ‘We had a couple of issues’

Mark Wahlberg has admitted that he had several disagreements with Martin Scorsese while filming The Departed.

Wahlberg, 52, best known for starring in Ted and Boogie Nights, has reflected on making the 2006 film, including several “issues” he experienced concerning his hair.

“I was a little pissed about a couple things,” Wahlberg said of his time on set.

“I was trying to grow my hair out, which is why I had that weird hair. You know, everybody’s like, what was that wig about,” the actor told Josh Horowitz, the host of the Happy Sad Confused podcast.

“It was not a wig, I was just trying to grow my hair for the next film”.

Wahlberg was in the process of making Invincible, which also came out in 2006. After shooting the film, the actor returned to Scorsese’s set, this time with hair extensions, but was told he had to remove them.

“They were like, ‘oh you gotta take out the extensions’. [This] s*** took eight hours. I’m not gonna take this out. We had a couple of issues,” he explained.

It echoes an earlier 2018 interview with GQ, in which the star first revealed he and the director butted heads.

Jack Nicholson, Mark Wahlberg and Leonardo DiCaprio at the New York permiere of Martin Scorsese’s The Departed (Getty Images)

Jack Nicholson, Mark Wahlberg and Leonardo DiCaprio at the New York permiere of Martin Scorsese’s The Departed (Getty Images)
Looking back on the disagreements they had, however, Wahlberg said he understood where Scorsese was coming from.

“He [Scorsese] had to deal with Jack [Nicholson], he had to deal with Matt [Damon] and Leo [DiCaprio] and Alec [Baldwin] and everything in the studio. And then I was supposed to be in and out in five weeks”.

Wahlberg played Sergeant Dignam in The Departed, an officer in the Massachusetts State Police Department, and was nominated for an Oscar for his performance.

The actor starred alongside Hollywood mainstays Leonardo DiCaprio, Matt Damon and Jack Nicholson.

The Departed went on to collect four Academy Awards including a win for Scorsese in the category of Best Director. While making the film, Scorsese said that he resisted film studio pressure to change the film’s ending.