Not content with upsetting Australia with his dangerous animals – no mean feat in a country where even the ladybirds can kill you – Johnny Depp has taken to whacking mooks on waterside locales. As least he is this new poster for Whitey Bulger thriller Black Mass. Not in real life. We cannot stress that enough. The film sees Depp take on the slick, slippery guise of the notorious gangster-turned-informant. A menacing figure in the Boston criminal underground, Bulger masterminded a violent gang in Boston while also reportedly turning federal informant to take down rivals. It seemed to be working out well – particularly with corrupt FBI agent John Connolly (Joel Edgerton) helping to smooth things – but when the Bureau began making arrests, agents double-crossed Bulger and prosecuted him as well.
Bulger fled in 1994 and was captured in 2011 in California. Cumberbatch will be Senator William ”Billy” Bulger, a career politician who claimed when questioned that he wasn’t aware of the extent of his older sibling’s criminal activities. Scott joins the cast as FBI agent Robert Fitzpatrick, marking a rare dramatic turn for the man better known for **Step Brothers **and sitcom Parks And Recreation.
Dakota Johnson, Juno Temple and Jesse Plemons are all board Scott Cooper’s new film, which he’s rewritten based on Mark Mallouk’s earlier adaptation of the book about Bulger by Dick Lehr and Gerard O’Neill. Black Mass arrives on November 13 in the UK.