The notorious Boston gangster who is serving life sentence in jail refuses to see Johnny Depp's portrayal in the movie that is based on his life story.
- Sep 19, 2015
AceShowbiz - Whitey Bulger, the notorious Boston mobster who becomes the subject of crime drama "Black Mass", reacts to the movie. According to his defense attorney Hank Brennan, the gangster who is serving two life sentences in a Florida maximum security federal prison will not see the film even if it gets into the jail.
"Johnny Depp might as well have been playing the Mad Hatter all over again as far as James Bulger is concerned," Brennan tells PEOPLE. "Hollywood greed is behind the rush to portray my client, and the movie missed the real scourge created in my client's case, the real menace to Boston during that time and in other mob cases around the country - the federal government's complicity in each and every one of those murders with the top echelon informant program."
Directed by Scott Cooper, the true-story flick is opening in North American theaters on September 18 after playing at several film festivals. It tells the story of an unholy alliance, which spiraled out of control, allowing Whitey to evade law enforcement, consolidate power, and become one of the most ruthless and powerful gangsters in Boston history.
According to Cooper, he relied on a lot of archival footage to capture the real Bulger and avoided to "romanticize or glamorize him" in the film. "It was really important for me to get that right, but also get the city right and to get the men right who had fostered a lot of heartbreak for the city," he explained. "Emotional wounds have yet to heal."
Jay Carney, another one of Bulger's lawyers, came to the Boston premiere of the movie recently. He was also spotted briefly on the set during the filming.
