For quite a while now, Matt Damon and Ben Affleck have been looking at ways they can reunite on screen, and now it seems they’ve settled on a new biopic of the notorious crime figure Whitey Bulger. Ben Affleck revealed the news to GQ, saying that he will direct, co-star, and produce the untitled biopic, while Matt Damon will star as Whitey Bulger. Casey Affleck has also landed a supporting role.
Boardwalk Empire creator Terence Winter is writing the screenplay, which will span Whitey Bulger’s entire life, from childhood through his rise up the Boston criminal ranks and on to becoming an FBI informant. Whitey Bulger was a notorious Boston crime figure who disappeared in 1994 after he learned the FBI was going to arrest him. He was on the FBI’s 10 Most Wanted List for 12 of his 16 years on the lam, before his arrest last June in Santa Monica, California. Jack Nicholson’s Frank Costello character in The Departed is loosely based on him (in fact Departed producer Graham King also has a Whitey Bulger biopic in the works).
Ben Affleck commented “We’ve heard about Whitey Bulger since we were kids, and we are excited by the prospect of putting it on screen.”
It isn’t known when the movie might go into production, and timing may depend on whether Affleck signs on the dotted line to make The Stand, which he recently became attached to.
General movie news courtesy of Movie Muser
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