“The only one that can do what I do is me. Lot of people had to die for me to be me. You wanna be me?”
The film is an American adaptation of the Hong Kong film: Mou Gaan Dou ‘Infernal Affairs’ (2002). Warner Brothers bought the remake rights to the film for $1.75 million in 2003. Brad Pitt passed on the role of Billy Costigan to work with Alejandro González Iñárritu on Babel (2006). Robert De Niro was asked to participate, but had to decline because he was directing The Good Shepherd (2006). Leonardo DiCaprio had been cast in the title role in The Good Shepherd, but dropped out to play Billy Costigan in this film, so Matt Damon took that role. Originally, Jack Nicholson turned down the role of Frank Costello. But after meeting with Martin Scorsese, William Monahan (writer) and Leonardo DiCaprio, he was convinced to play Frank Costello. Nicholson had just finished doing several comedy roles and wanted to play a villain again and he considered the character of Frank Costello to be the ultimate incarnation of evil. Ray Liotta was the original choice for the role of Det. Sgt. Dignam but had to reluctantly decline due to other commitments. Mark Wahlberg said he based his performance of Dignam on police officers who had arrested him a couple of dozen times in his youth. After completing The Aviator (2004), Martin Scorsese kept Alec Baldwin in mind for future collaboration and subsequently cast him as Officer Ellerby, which had originally been offered to Mel Gibson. At $290 million wordwide, this film has the highest grossing box-office total of any of the 39 films Martin Scorsese has directed. Body count: 22.
