Benedict Cumberbatch Set For Whitey Bulger Film

Benedict Cumberbatch is set to play alongside Johnny Depp in a new film about Boston’s most notorious gangster, Whitey Bulger.

The film, formerly titled Black Mass, was previously expected to include Guy Pearce, however Cross Creek Pictures president Brian Oliver told Variety that Pearce departed due to scheduling issues on the project.

The untitled Whitey Bulger biopic is based on the book Black Mass: The True Story of an Unholy Alliance Between The FBI and The Irish Mob by Dick Lehr and Gerard O’Neill.

It illustrates Johnny Depp as 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. 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 in the TV series Sherlock, 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.

Other cast members include Rory Cochrane, Julianne Nicholson, Adam Scott, David Harbour, Juno Temple, Jeremy Strong, Brad Carter, W. Earl Brown and Corey Stoll.

No release date has been officially set, however it is likely to land sometime in 2015.