Bulger Movie 'Black Mass' Set to Open in Theaters Sept. 18

By LIZ TAURASI (Patch Staff)

At long last the James Whitey Bulger movie “Black Mass,” based on the book of the same title, opens in theaters on Sept. 18 and Hollywood insiders are saying Johnny Depp’s portrayal of the notorious Boston mobster will be compared to Marlon Brando as Don Corleone in “The Godfather.”

View the official movie trailer:

The book “Black Mass” was published in 2000 and written by former Boston Globe reporters reporters Dick Lehr and Gerard O’Neill.

The movie was filmed in several locations throughout the Boston area in 2014 including: Quincy, Back Bay, South Boston, Lynn, Dorchester, East Boston and Cambridge. A special screening of the film is planned in Boston on Sept. 15 at the Coolidge Corner Theatre in Brookline. Cast and crew members, including Depp, are expected to attend.

The movie also stars Kevin Bacon, Dakota Johnson, Benedict Cumberbatch, Joel Edgerton,

Juno Temple, Corey Stoll, Adam Scott and dozens more. View the full cast >>>

Bulger was a key player in the Winter Hill Gang, which operated out of Somerville’s Winter Hill during the 1960s and 1970s. When Bulger took over the gang following the imprisonment of its leaders, he moved its operations to Boston.

On the run since the mid-1990s, Bulger, along with his longtime companion Catherine Greig, was caught and arrested at the Princess Eugenia apartment complex in Santa Monica, California in June 2011. Hidden in the walls of their rent-controlled apartment, FBI agents found more than $800,000 and 30 guns.

Bulger was convicted in 2013 of murdering 11 people, and was sentenced to two life terms in prison. After spending time at a federal prison in Tucson, Arizona, Bulger is currently being housed at Coleman II penitentiary in Sumterville, Florida.

Greig was indicted for helping the fugitive mobster hide while on the run for 16 years. In 2012 she was sentenced to eight years in prison for her role in his disappearance. In 2013, Greig lost her appeal on her sentence. Sienna Miller was cast as Greig in the movie, but her scenes were left on the cutting room floor.