Skip to main content

Hilarious new Kickstarter aims to fix Scorcese’s last scene in The Departed

Digitally Erase the Rat From the End of The Departed

We live in a world in which deceased actors can be digitally revived for one last starring role. What challenge is it, then, to remove a single scene-ruining rat from an otherwise brilliant movie? That’s the question that caused movie fan (and apparent rodent-as-symbolism hater) Adam Sacks to launch an unlikely new Kickstarter project. His goal: to banish the rat from the end of Martin Scorsese’s 2006 Oscar winner The Departed.

Recommended Videos

“For those who don’t know, the movie follows two undercover informants, or ‘rats.’” Sacks told Digital Trends. “One is a member of the Massachusetts State Police that’s undercover in a south Boston gang, and the other is a member of that gang and is embedded in the Massachusetts State Police. The movie ends with a shot of an actual rat crawling across a bannister with the Massachusetts State House in the background. It’s a visual metaphor that for, my taste, is a little too on the nose.”

Sacks’ Kickstarter campaign breaks down exactly what its creator hopes to achieve with his tinkering — complete with an hilariously detailed cost breakdown. These include $18.91 to buy a copy of the movie on Blu-ray, $141.54 to buy a Blu-ray player to watch it on, $59 for software to rip the Blu-ray onto a computer, $599 to pay for a visual effects artist to perform the rat removal, $38.31 to buy a pack of 50 blank Blu-ray discs, and $2.71 to buy a black sharpie to label the discs.

One slight hiccup is the fact that, as Sacks acknowledges, he doesn’t actually have the rights to sell Blu-ray copies of his (and Martin Scorsese’s) completed magnum opus. As a result, people wanting the rat-less cut of the movie must contribute $70. “This will allow me to buy you a legal Blu-ray of The Departed, throw that disc away, replace it with my superior version, and mail it to you,” he writes.

Is there a risk that this will prove to be the start of a slippery slope when it comes to Sacks’ movie modification? After all, who’s to say that travesties like the Star Wars “Special Editions” and attempts to colorize classic black and white movies didn’t also start with someone wanting to delete an unwanted rat?

“The thing that would stop me from making further changes is a complete lack of interest in doing so,” Sacks said. “My one and only goal with this project is to digitally erase the rat from the end of The Departed.”

As ever, we offer our usual warnings about the risks inherent in Kickstarter campaigns. If you don’t smell a rat, however, head over to the project’s crowdfunding page for more details.

Luke Dormehl
I'm a UK-based tech writer covering Cool Tech at Digital Trends. I've also written for Fast Company, Wired, the Guardian…
Want to watch Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey teaser trailer? Here’s what you need to know
Matt Damon stares with a helmet on.

The most anticipated movie of 2026 is not up for debate. Apologies to fans of Avengers: Doomsday, Dune: Messiah, and Spider-Man: Brand New Day, but those movies pale in comparison to Christopher Nolan's The Odyssey.

For his follow-up to Oppenheimer, Nolan is adapting Homer's Greek epic poem about the legend of Odysseus. The Odyssey is in production and well over a year away from hitting theaters. The first teaser trailer has been released. However, there is a catch.

Read more
Jurassic World Rebirth review: A fun but all-too familiar blockbuster
Jurassic World Rebirth: a sequel that brings some life back to an exhausted franchise
A man and woman hide in a field and stare curiously in "Jurassic World Rebirth."

Director Gareth Edwards (The Creator) has brought audiences back to the land of dinosaurs with his film, Jurassic World Rebirth. This standalone sequel to Jurassic World Dominion follows a team of hired operatives as they journey to an island inhabited by mutant dinosaurs, which were left behind by Jurassic World researchers, and try to gather enough dino-DNA to generate a cure for heart disease.

The Jurassic Park franchise is struggling to keep things fresh and engaging. Clearly, the filmmakers knew this fact during the production of Jurassic World Rebirth. This sequel falls short of expectations with its familiar story elements, some thin characters, and a clunky script. Nevertheless, Jurassic World Rebirth still provides some entertainment, featuring some terrific new players, exhilarating action scenes, terrifying suspense, and outstanding visuals. This movie is far from the best in the Jurassic Park saga, but it's a decent blockbuster nonetheless.

Read more
This new adventure movie will win the weekend box office. Watch the trailer here
Movie theater audience watching Dolby Cinema content.

Last weekend, F1: The Movie stood atop the box office podium, but this weekend a very different movie will steal the spotlight.

Jurassic World Rebirth is expected to rake in between $80 million and $100 million on its debut weekend in North America, according to a forecast from Boxoffice Pro. Watch the trailer for Jurassic World Rebirth at the top of this page.

Read more