The Warner Bros. studios have finally settled on an official release date for the Whitey Bulger biopic, starring Johnny Depp. The film, formerly titled Black Mass, is set to arrive in theaters on September 18, 2015.
Scott Cooper is directing the crime drama, which will star Benedict Cumberbatch, Joel Edgerton, Kevin Bacon, Adam Scott, Dakota Johnson, Juno Temple, and Jesse Plemons (Breaking Bad) alongside Depp.
The biopic is based on the 2001 non-fiction bestseller Black Mass: The True Story of an Unholy Alliance Between The FBI and The Irish Mob, written by Boston Globe reporters Dick Lehr and Gerard O’Neill.
It illustrates Johnny Depp as the Boston mobster Bulger who rises to power on the Boston crime scene, using his status as an FBI stoolpigeon to get rid of his rivals one by one. FBI handler John Connolly, who is to be played by Joel Edgerton, uses the information for his own professional gain. When the partnership unraveled, the mobster disappeared only to be arrested in 2011. He was found guilty in 2013 on 31 counts, covering 11 murders, and was sentenced to two consecutive life terms plus five years for his crimes.
Connolly was also arrested and sentenced to 40 years in prison despite maintaining his innocence.
English actor Cumberbatch, who is best known for playing Sherlock Holmes, will play the role of Billy Bulger, Whitey Bulger’s law-abiding brother and a Massachusetts State Senator.
Jesse Plemons will portray Bulger’s longtime partner in crime, Kevin Weeks, and Sienna Miller will play his lover, Catherine Greig. Dakota Johnson has been cast as Bulger’s former girlfriend and mother of his only child.
Despite receiving an official release date, the biopic remains untitled.
