Black Mass

Black Mass is a 2015 American biographical crime drama film about American mobster Whitey Bulger. Directed by Scott Cooper and written by Mark Mallouk and Jez Butterworth, it is based on Dick Lehr and Gerard O'Neill's 2001 book Black Mass: The True Story of an Unholy Alliance Between the FBI and the Irish Mob. The film features an ensemble cast led by Johnny Depp as Bulger, alongside Joel Edgerton, Benedict Cumberbatch, Kevin Bacon, Jesse Plemons, Peter Sarsgaard, Dakota Johnson, and Corey Stoll. Principal photography of the film took place in Boston between May and August 2014. The film had its world premiere at the 72nd Venice International Film Festival and was released by Warner Bros. worldwide on September 18, 2015. It received generally positive reviews and grossed $99 million on a $53 million budget. Plot In 1975, James "Whitey" Bulger, leader of the Winter Hill Gang, controls most organized crime within South Boston, along with his right-hand man Stephen Flemmi, newcomer Kevin Weeks, and callous hitman Johnny Martorano. Bulger lives with his longtime girlfriend Lindsey Cyr and their young son Douglas. Bulger's supremacy is challenged by the North End-based Angiulo Brothers, a rival gang that is part of the New England Mafia family. FBI agent John Connolly returns to the area, having grown up in South Boston as a friend of Whitey and his brother, Massachusetts Senate President William "Billy" Bulger.