Probably one of my favorite scenes from The Departed takes place in a shady movie theater (in which porn nabs top billing) and features a meeting between Frank Costello (an Irish mob boss played by Jack Nicholson) and Colin Sullivan (Matt Damon, as Costello's apprentice working undercover deep within the Boston State Police). Without giving anything away, let's just say Jack flashes his, um, vintage smile.

Not long ago, Cinematical was invited to attend a press conference for The Departed located at the swanky Loews Regency Hotel on Park Avenue here in New York City. On hand to answer questions were Martin Scorsese, Matt Damon, Leonardo DiCaprio, Vera Farmiga, screenwriter William Monahan and producer Graham King. What follows are some of the more interesting tidbits to come out of the conference, which lasted roughly 45 minutes. (Oh, and before you ask ladies -- yes, Damon and DiCaprio look just as good in person as they do on the big screen.) The Departed lands in theaters this Friday, October 6.

Check out the deets after the jump ...

Note: I tried my best to keep spoilers out of here, but there may be one or two minor spoilers present below. So be warned ...

Martin Scorsese:

On the subject of organized crime as it pertains to his films: "It's a difficult thing to talk about because real working-class people usually get offended by this sort of thing, and I always hear about it from my old friends complaining about the pictures I make."

On his relationship with violence in his films: "The violence in my own films -- I really don't know what to say -- I can't defend it. I don't know if I approach it differently, I approach it the way I thought I experienced it. What I know, what I saw. More than the physical violence, the emotional violence around me. Ya know, it's all of who I am. And somehow it channels itself into the films. But I also see it sometimes as absurd -- even in this film, there's absurdity in some of the violence. But that's just the absurdity of being alive. The way I see it, if you're going to experience violence, you better experience it powerfully and real.

On what the younger Scorsese would think of where the older Scorsese's career is at now: "My younger you, heh -- I don't know him anymore. He's still there I guess. I don't know, it's almost like it's a dream. I don't know what's really happened. I'm trying to find a way to still be interested, to be on a set with great people like this -- ya know, it's not easy. And what I mean by that is to keep the energy going. To keep the interest going, the curiosity going to continue to make films. But they have to mean something to me. And that's always been a struggle because of the nature of the way the system is now in Hollywood independent cinema. And with that sort of thing, I'm still trying to find my way."

On why he decided to do a remake (of Infernal Affairs) at this point in his career: "Yeah, I'm aware of all the work and Hong Kong cinema, and I felt okay because what they do, I cannot do. And I thought I could find my own way in this, and I think what Bill's script had was really the way. And that is the nature of this microcosm that he described, the people the way he described them, the way they behave and the language that he used. We were all able to collaborate together until I got to the editing room where my editor also contributes greatly to what she thinks the script needs here and there. And so I felt okay. I admire and respect their work so much in Hong Kong -- and all of Chinese cinema, really -- that I know I can't go there, and so I thought it was an interesting way to go. And also, the film I hope to make next is also a remake of another Asian film -- I'm only remaking Asian films from now on, that's it. [laughs]

Matt Damon:

On whether growing up in Boston subjected him to violence : "Well, growing up I wasn't someone who particularly fought a lot. I saw a lot of violent things happen, but probably no more than most kids who grew up in the city, ya know. I mean, I have a stranger relationship to violence because my mother is a professor of early childhood education specializing in non-violent conflict resolution, so I hear about the portrayal of violence in cinema all the time -- particularly gratuitous violence, so I'm careful not to do any of that. I'm serious, as violent as this film is, none of that violence is gratuitous and the characters all pay a price for the violence they inflict on each other. And that's a good message to send out to people, that there's a price to be paid for."

On going along for a ride-along with police during a real drug bust while training for his role in The Departed: "That was a great experience. I was a lot closer to the action than I was comfortable with, I'll tell you that. They actually gave me a bullet-proof vest and put me at the end of the line of people who go crashing through the door. It was really humbling to watch these guys -- ya know, we did the whole little huddle before we went in and they showed this guy who was wanted on drug charges, gun charges -- I mean, it wasn't a room I would've gone running into. I had the advantage of having not to learn the accent because I'm from there (Boston), so that stuff was already handled for me. Which meant I could really go into the sub-culture of the State Police and really spend some time with those guys to try and figure out how I was going to play the role and make it believable. "

On what attracted him to the film and how he made his character work: "Well, the script makes it work, it's really well written -- I mean, Leo and I read almost everything that comes around -- and you don't usually find characters that are this interesting and complex in movies where the budgets are this high. The rule of thumb is the bigger the budget, the more boring the character. And a lot of it was on the page."

Leonardo DiCaprio:

On whether or not he's been subjected to violence: "It doesn't matter where you come from, we all experience those sorts of things in our life. For me, it was about getting to meet some of the real guys from South Boston, and I got to spend time with a guy in Los Angeles who was from the streets who told me about the tragedies of went went on when he was growing up around gang violence -- that underworld. And that was, not just to get acquainted with the accent, but to get to an entirely different place."

On the similarities between his character and Damon's character: "It's true, they're two sides of the same coin. They're products of their environment. They both make certain choices early on in their lives that affect everything for the rest of the film. For us, I think the working experience was interesting because it was almost like we were shooting two entirely different films. Of course they (Damon and DiCaprio's characters) intersected at moments, but they were two entirely different films. Two completely different experiences with the links being Vera's character and, of course, Jack Nicholson's character.

On working with Martin Scorsese: "I think there's a lot of really interesting characters in this film, and that's what I love about Mr. Scorsese's work. It's that he not only gives the same appreciation to the entire film and the construct of the film, but he really lets the audience engage with every character no matter how small they are. Each character is fulfilling."

Vera Famiga:

On whether she thinks her character is believable: "What a bore it would've been if Madolyn did things by the book. I mean, hardly anything in this world is done by the book, is it? I think it's so much more interesting to play someone who thinks she's great at her job, and may not be. I met with a woman who was the chief police psychologist with the LAPD, and that was the moment where I found my character very interesting. She is pushed by her desire and pulled by her conscious. I love the contradiction. I love that she was a woman who was supposed to rely on her instinct for what she does and in her personal life she doesn't really rely on her intuition. And I found that very exciting to play."