An All-Star Cast
for The Departed

Only Martin Scorsese can direct an all-star cast in a monumental masterpiece. This is what he did with The Departed, which, in my opinion, had the best cast of all his movies. It included Leonardo DiCaprio, Jack Nicholson, Matt Damon, Mark Wahlberg, and Vera Farmiga. It's no wonder it won Best Picture at the 79th Academy Awards.

That's not even everyone. Beyond the main cast I mentioned, the movie also featured Alec Baldwin, Martin Sheen, Anthony Anderson, and Ray Winstone. These are A-list actors in their own right, and their supporting roles in this film only prove how much people wanted to work with Scorsese.

I can't blame them, though. On top of the great script, with writer William Monahan also winning Best Adapted Screenplay that year, Scorsese is truly one of the best directors in cinematic history. The film finally won him his first Best Director Oscar, and Mark Wahlberg was nominated for Best Supporting Actor, too.

So it's no surprise these big names jumped at the chance to work with the GOAT. Heck, if I were an actor, I'd give an arm and a leg to work in a Scorsese film. I'm sure it'll be an awesome experience, and looking back at his career, he's made far more hits than misses.

I actually met the cast when the movie premiered at New York's Ziegfeld Theatre on September 26, 2006, a benefit night for Scorsese's Film Foundation. They all looked good, but what stood out to me was how cool, calm, and collected they were. Well, celebrities rarely look flustered in public unless they're being chased by paparazzi, but the vibe that night was different.

There was a positive energy, downright confidence, in the air as the cast made their way down the red carpet. Everyone was smiling, from Scorsese to Mark Wahlberg, who was grinning from ear to ear as he posed for the cameras alongside the rest of the cast.

If you were to ask me, I think they all looked happy because they knew they had something amazing in store. They all looked and felt confident because they expected The Departed to be a hit, and to be fair, they were right. It was one of the best films of 2006, and one of the best of the 21st century so far.

I felt their positive energy even more when I asked them to sign my poster. I usually didn't get as lucky as I did that night. I might get one or two autographs, even on a good day, but almost the whole cast signed my poster at that premiere. Because of that, I smiled all night long, too.

Though not everyone attended the premiere in New York City, I still saw all the leads and Scorsese himself that night. Eventually, I got the other cast members to sign the same poster later on. So in all my years of autograph-hounding, this signed The Departed movie poster is still my best work.