How did you end up turning the Hong Kong action thriller Infernal Affairs into The Departed?
“Brad Pitt’s production company owned the remake rights, and I had a meeting with him. I said I would do it if I could set it in Boston. I made a point of not watching the original movie. Culturally, the films couldn’t be more different. You couldn’t do some of the stuff in a land where they have the Bill of Rights.” Supposedly, there are 237 variations of the f-word in the film. Does director Martin Scorsese demand such high-volume cussing? “The script was written before he came aboard. Actors show up on a Scorsese set expecting to swear their heads off.” Jack Nicholson has been known to go off the page. Did he mess with the script a lot? “I had written the role as a post-sexual 68-year-old Irishman. Jack is post-sexual exactly never. … What Jack did is great. Did he change the words? Not any of the good ones.” How did you end up on Jurassic Park IV? “I got offered it when I was a screenwriter for about a week. The question was how to say no and tell my wife. I had a really good time.