Black Mass
Short description
Set in South Boston during the 1970s, Black Mass centers on James "Whitey" Bulger, a local crime boss whose brother Billy holds a seat in the state senate. FBI agent John Connolly, who grew up alongside the Bulger brothers, approaches Whitey with a proposal: become an informant against the Italian Mafia, and in return the bureau will leave his own operations alone. The arrangement suits both men at first, but Whitey has never taken orders from anyone, and the alliance soon slips beyond the control of the agents who built it.
Scott Cooper directed the film, the third in his filmography after Crazy Heart and Out of the Furnace. Jez Butterworth and Mark Mallouk wrote the screenplay, and Johnny Depp plays Bulger, heading a cast that includes Joel Edgerton, Julianne Nicholson, Dakota Johnson, Kevin Bacon and Benedict Cumberbatch. Made for roughly 53 million dollars, the film took in about 100 million worldwide.
On IMDb, voters rate it 6.8 out of 10 across some 202,000 votes, while on TMDB it sits at 6.5 from a much smaller pool of around 3,700. A critics' rating of 6.7 from 289 reviews places it close to the audience scores, suggesting broad agreement rather than a sharp divide between reviewers and viewers.
What's left behind the scenes
- While preparing for his role, Johnny Depp attempted to meet his real-life counterpart, gangster Whitey Bulger, who is serving a life sentence, several times, but Bulger refused to meet with him.
- To ensure that Johnny Depp's character on screen accurately reflected the real Whitey Bulger, Scott Cooper hired some of Bulger's old associates as consultants.
- The role of Bulger was originally intended for Guy Pearce, but he left the project for unknown reasons.
- In his interview, Johnny Depp said he learned the Boston accent for this film by spending time with Aerosmith guitarist Joe Perry.
- Despite a significant number of scenes filmed with Sienna Miller in the role of Catherine Greig, all of them were ultimately removed from the final version of the film.
- According to Scott Cooper, the initial version of the film was nearly 3 hours long, but it was ultimately cut down to maintain the film's pace.
- The project was put on hold after Johnny Depp left due to a disagreement over his fee. After an agreement with Depp was reached and he returned, Joel Edgerton became unavailable, and the filmmakers had to further postpone the start of filming while waiting for the actor.
- The word “fuck” is uttered 254 times in the film.
- Revere Beach, located in Revere, Massachusetts, was used to film scenes set in Miami Beach. To make Revere Beach look more like Miami Beach, real palm trees were placed on it, and a local pizzeria was made to resemble a Cuban cafe.
- Most of the murder scenes were filmed at the locations where the real murders took place.
- The scene of John McIntyre (Brad Carter) being beaten, shown in most of the trailers, was ultimately cut from the film.
- Barry Levinson was originally appointed as the film's director.
- During the restaurant scene in Florida, a bottle of “Jalapeno Tabasco Sauce” can be seen on the table. This sauce only appeared in 1993.
- During the scene of John Connolly's arrest by FBI agents, a modern yacht can be seen in the background.
- When Whitey and his crew are spotted by a Boston patrol car, the license plates on it are blue with white letters, and the word “police” is written at an angle. At the time, the plates were white with blue letters.
- The epilogue states that William Bulger later became chancellor of the University of Massachusetts. He was, in fact, president of the University of Massachusetts.
- Deborah Hussey was killed by Stephen Flemmi, not Whitey Bulger.
- The film is based on the bestseller 'Black Mass: The True Story of an Unholy Alliance Between the FBI and the Irish Mob'.
- Johnny Depp said in an interview that this time he broke his rule – not to watch his own films. Being at the premiere in Venice, he was going to skip the film screening itself, but the director asked him to stay, and he did.
- The real Kevin Weeks, after watching the film, called it 'a work of fiction.' He criticized how Johnny Depp and Rory Cochrane portrayed their characters. He also expressed his objections to the fact that in the film his character is involved in crimes to which he categorically denies any connection.
- After seeing Mark Wahlberg's performance in 'The Fighter' (2013), the filmmakers decided to cast him as Mickey Maluni without an audition.
- By the time James "Whitey" Bulger was arrested in 2011, he had already been on the Ten Most Wanted Fugitives list for 12 years. The FBI offered a $2 million reward for information leading to his capture. This sum was higher than for everyone else on the list except for Osama bin Laden.
- Whitey Bulger "won" the lottery in 1991, not before 1986 as shown in the film.
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