Who edited Martin Scorsese’s The Departed?

Thelma Schoonmaker edited Martin Scorsese’s The Departed.

Schoonmaker has been Scorsese’s principal editing collaborator for decades, beginning with Raging Bull and continuing through many of his later films. Her work on The Departed helped coordinate the film’s parallel storylines about an undercover state police officer and a criminal informant inside the police department.

The Departed was released in 2006 and won four Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Best Director, Best Adapted Screenplay, and Best Film Editing. The editing award went to Schoonmaker, making the category a direct recognition of her contribution to the film’s pace and structure.

Schoonmaker is sometimes confused with the cinematographer of a Scorsese film. Cinematography creates the photographed images, while editing selects and arranges the shots. Her long partnership with Scorsese is one of the best-known director-editor collaborations in American cinema.