Arguably the biggest movie star in the world and after months of speculation, Johnny Depp has today been confirmed as the lead for true-crime thriller, BLACK MASS. The film will be directed by RAIN MAN and BUGSY’s Academy Award-winner Barry Levinson and will mark Depp’s third gangster biopic following Mike Newell’s DONNIE BRASCO (1997) and Michael Mann’s PUBLIC ENEMIES (2009).
BLACK MASS will see Depp depict James Joseph “Whitey” Bulger, a Boston career-criminal known as a Robin Hood-like figure amongst the locals for protecting the neighborhood and its residents. Bulger was the feared mastermind behind protection racketeering for drug kingpins as well as those running illegal gambling operations and also, unknown to his clientele, served as an informant for the FBI. It is thought law enforcement turned a blind eye to his criminal activities as he was crucial for information on a case involving the Patriarca crime family.
However, Bulger went on the run for 16 years following an indictment of police corruption and even landed himself on the 10 Most Wanted List after it was revealed during the case he was involved in the murder of 19 people. He was eventually apprehended in 2011, aged 83 and is currently awaiting trial.
It is thought the ruthless character of ‘Fergie’, played by the late Pete Postlethwaite in Ben Affleck’s THE TOWN is inspired by the criminal, as is Jack Nicholson’s Frank Costello in Scorecese’s THE DEPARTED.
Source: Deadline
