Anyone who's seen The Departed may know that Jack Nicholson's character is based off notorious Irish mobster Whitey Bulger. Bulger ran the Irish mafia in Boston for decades and before September 11, 2001 he was the number one wanted man on the FBI's Most Wanted list. In late 1994 he became a fugitive for over sixteen years before his arrest in June of 2011. After being extradited to Massachusetts, Bulger was found guilty just last month of thirtyone counts of racketeering, money laundering, extortion, weapons charges, and involvement in eleven murders. You can probably imagine that his story was made for Hollywood. Warner Bros. and Ben Affleck felt the same way, which is why before too long you'll see the titular man's life on the big screen.
The original script was writer by Terrence Winter of "Boardwalk Empire" fame but Affleck and Warner Bros. have brought in screenwriter Aaron Stockard to do some tweaking. Stockard previously worked with Affleck on 2010's The Town.
Matt Damon is slated to play Bulger while Casey and Ben Affleck* are set to co-star. The film will chronicle Bulger's life from his youth, to his incarceration in Alcatraz, his rise to mob boss, and working as an FBI informer for decades.
Just like the Lance Armstrong biopics that are in the works, this film is competing with another Whitey Bulger pic called Black Mass directed by Barry Levinson and starring Joel Edgerton as FBI agent John Connelly.
No word yet on a production start date for the untitled project.
*How the hell is Affleck going to find time to be in this movie? He starts filming Gone Girl in a couple weeks, the Batman/Superman movie early next year, and is also planning on directing another film in 2014. Can't say the guy isn't committed to his craft though.
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