The 2011 arrest of Boston mobster Whitey Bulger after 15 years on the run naturally sparked a lot of interest in making his story into a movie (even though Martin Scorsese kind of sort of already did that with The Departed). Three Bulger movies have been announced already, and while Mark Wahlberg and the reunited Ben Affleck/Matt Damon duo prepare to enter a turf war over who’s more Boston-y—all while pointedly ignoring Twilight actor Peter Facinelli—now Johnny Depp has thrown his own floppy, whimsically feathered hat into the ring by signing on to Barry Levinson’s Black Mass.
Based on the book of the same name by two Boston Globe reporters, this fourth prospective Whitey Bulger movie will similarly track the rise and fall of the South Boston mob boss turned FBI informant turned fugitive, but do so with Depp putting on a Boston accent to play Bulger. “Black Mass expertly details the twists and turns of this highly complex story, painting a vivid portrait of Boston’s underbelly and its corrupt political machine, as well as exposing the worst scandal in FBI history. It’s also an examination of loyalty to family, Irish heritage, and South Boston,” producer Brian Oliver said, presumably then adding, “And when you think of South Boston’s Irish heritage, naturally you think of the foppishly bohemian descendant of Cherokees and French Huguenots.” "Yeah, Johnny Depp—that's our boy," all of South Boston agreed.