Big Gay Picture Show

Taking a look at the world of film through gay eyes - news, reviews, trailers, gay film, queer cinema and more

Taking a look at the world of film through gay eyes - news, reviews, trailers, gay film, queer cinema & more

Black Mass (Blu-ray Review)

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At the beginning of Black Mass I was worried that the whole thing was going to be spoiled by Johnny Depp’s makeup, or more particularly the ridiculously blue contact lenses he wears as part of his efforts to make himself look like the real James ‘Whitey’ Bulger. Thankfully, relatively quickly you get used to it, helped by the fact this is the best performance Depp has given in years.

The movie tells the real-life tale of Bulger, who grew up on the tough streets of South Boston before becoming a gangster and the leader of the vicious Winter Hill Gang. His childhood friend, John Connolly (Joes Edgerton), is now an FBI agent, who comes up with a plan he thinks can help the feds take down the Mafia and other parts of Boston’s organised crime. He wants to get Bulger to turn informant, in return for the FBI turning a blind eye to his gang’s activities. [Read more…]

Christian Bale Will Be One Of The Hostiles For Director Scott Cooper

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Christian Bale

Back in 2013 Christian Bale and director Scott Cooper worked together on Out Of The Furnace. It wasn’t a great success but they obviously liked working with one another, as Variety reports they’re set to reteam for the movie Hostiles, which Cooper is also writing.

Set at the end of the 19th Century, the film ‘tells the story of a legendary Army captain, who agrees to escort a dying Cheyenne war chief and his family back to tribal lands. Making the harrowing and perilous journey from an isolated Army outpost in New Mexico to the grasslands of Montana, the former rivals encounter a young widow whose family was murdered on the plains. Together, they must join forces to overcome the punishing landscape and hostile Comanche tribes that they encounter along the way.’

It certainly sounds like an ambitious one, and hopefully the script will be careful to avoid accusations of having ‘white savior’ issues. Filming is set to begin in July.

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Fresh Black Mass Trailer – Johnny Depp is a major mobster

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black-mass-main-poster Three-time Oscar nominee Johnny Depp (“Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street,” “Finding Neverland,” the “Pirates of the Caribbean” films) stars as notorious mobster James “Whitey” Bulger in the drama “Black Mass,” directed by Scott Cooper (“Crazy Heart”).

The film also stars Joel Edgerton (“The Great Gatsby,” “Zero Dark Thirty”) as FBI Agent John Connolly; Oscar nominee Benedict Cumberbatch (“The Imitation Game”) as Whitey’s brother, powerful State Senator Billy Bulger; Rory Cochrane (“Argo”) as Steve Flemmi, Whitey’s closest partner in crime; Jesse Plemons (TV’s “Fargo”) as Whitey’s main henchman, Kevin Weeks; and Kevin Bacon (“Crazy, Stupid, Love.” TV’s “The Following”) as FBI Special Agent in Charge Charles McGuire.

In 1970s South Boston, FBI Agent John Connolly (Edgerton) persuades Irish mobster Jimmy Bulger (Depp) to collaborate with the FBI in order to eliminate their common enemy: the Italian mob. The drama tells the story of this unholy alliance, which spiraled out of control, allowing Whitey to evade law enforcement while consolidating his power and becoming one of the most ruthless and dangerous gangsters in Boston history.

Cooper directed “Black Mass” from a screenplay by Mark Mallouk and Jez Butterworth, based on the book by Dick Lehr and Gerard O’Neill. It’s due out in the UK in November. [Read more…]

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New Black Mass Trailer – Johnny Depp gets involved in organised crime

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black-mass-trailerSynopsis: Black Mass stars Oscar® nominee Johnny Depp (“Public Enemies”, “Donnie Brasco”, the “Pirates of the Caribbean” films) as Whitey Bulger and Joel Edgerton (“The Great Gatsby,” “Zero Dark Thirty”) as FBI Agent John Connolly. Filming began in Boston under the direction of Scott Cooper (“Out of the Furnace,” “Crazy Heart”).

#The film also stars Benedict Cumberbatch (“Twelve Years a Slave”) as Whitey’s brother, Billy Bulger, who is a Massachusetts State Senator; Jesse Plemons (AMC’s “Breaking Bad”) as Whitey’s longtime partner in crime, Kevin Weeks; Dakota Johnson (“Fifty Shades of Grey”) as Lindsey Cyr, Whitey’s former girlfriend and mother of his only child; Rory Cochrane (“Argo”) as Steve Flemmi, another member of the Irish mob; Julianne Nicholson (“August: Osage County”) as John Connolly’s wife, Marianne; and Adam Scott (ABC’s “Parks and Recreation”) as FBI Agent Robert Fitzpatrick. Rounding out the main cast are David Harbour (“End of Watch”), Jeremy Strong (“Zero Dark Thirty”), Brad Carter (HBO’s “True Detective”), W. Earl Brown (“Draft Day”) and Corey Stoll (“The Bourne Legacy”).

‘In 1970s South Boston, FBI Agent John Connolly (Edgerton) persuades Irish mobster James “Whitey” Bulger (Depp) to collaborate with the FBI and eliminate a common enemy: the Italian mob. The drama tells the true story of this 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.’

The movie is due out in November. [Read more…]

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Scott Cooper To Helm Granite Mountain Hotshots Firefighting Film

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scott-cooperOut of the Furnace may have failed at the box office, but its director, Scott Cooper, is now brewing up another film, as he is set to helm a film about the Granite Mountain Hotshots firefighter crew from Prescott, Arizona, according to Variety.

The brave group made headlines last year when 19 of these elite firefighters were killed battling the Yarnell Hill wildfire last June. The incident was the largest single loss of lives on US soil since 9/11 and the greatest loss of wildland firefighters in more than eight decades. The film will focus on this tragedy.

Ken Nolan (Black Hawk Down) is writing the script.

Scott Cooper comments, “The heroic and tragic story of the men who gave their lives to protect the community of Yarnell is heartbreaking, compelling and inspiring. I look forward to telling their story with the respect, sensitivity and authenticity that these true American heroes deserve.”

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Guy Pearce Will Have A Black Mass With Johnny Depp

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guy-pearceAfter it all fell apart last year, Black Mass is back on track with Johnny Depp signed up once more for the lead role, and Joel Edgerton co-starring, with Scott Cooper set to direct. Now Variety reports another great actor has signed on, as Guy Pearce will also star.

The film is a biopic of James ‘Whitey’ Bulger (Johnny Depp), a Boston criminal who ended up becoming an FBI informant, with the help of his longtime friend and FBI agent John Connolly (Joel Edgerton) and his brother (Guy Pearce), who was the former President of the Massachussets State Senate. However Whitey didn’t completely turn good guy, as his tips to the feds were mainly about getting rid of his mob competition.

When Connolly tipped Bulger off that the feds were planning on double-crossing him, the criminal went into hiding for more than a decade, rising to the top of the FBI’s Most Wanted list before he was eventually caught in 2011 while hiding out in Santa Monica, California.

Bulger served as the inspiration for Jack Nicholson’s Frank Costello in The Departed and Pete Postlethwaite’s Fergus ‘Fergie’ Colm in The Town.

Filming is set to start this spring in Boston, with an October 2015 release date set.

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Fault In Our Stars Director Josh Boone In Talks For The Stand

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stand-stephen-king-book-coverFollowing in the footsteps of the likes of Ben Affleck and Scott Cooper (both of whom have since dropped out), Josh Boone (The Fault in Our Stars) is close to singing a deal to write and direct Warner Bros. and CBS Films’ upcoming adaptation of Stephen King’s novel, The Stand, according to TheWrap.

Cooper was the last helmer attached, but he left last November over creative differences.

Although impossible to boil down to a simple plot, The Stand’s over-arcing premise sees a plague known as Captain Trips wiping out pretty much everyone in the world. The survivors then begin sharing a dream of a strange, evil figure, and slowly come together to try and defeat the anti-Christ like Randall Flaggs. It’s basically good vs. evil told on a massive, apocalyptic scale. It was turned into a miniseries in 1994, but despite being much loved by many, the huge plot and ensemble narrative have defeated numerous attempts to take it to the big screen.

It isn’t known when they hope to shoot this long-gestating project.

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Tom Hardy In Talks For Black Mass, With Johnny Depp Confirmed For The Crime Flick

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Tom Hardy in Inception

Tom Hardy

A few weeks ago it was revealed that after stepping away from the Whitey Bulger biopic Black Mass last year, Johnny Depp was circling the project again. He got interested again after shooting of the movie was delayed and the director swapped from Barry Levinson to Scott Cooper. Now Deadline reports that Depp has finalised his deal to play the Boston crime.

They also report that Tom Hardy is in talks to play FBI agent John Connolly. Joel Edgerton was previously attached to play Connolly, but he is no longer involved in the project. There’s no news on how close Hardy is to signing.

Mark Mallouk and Jez Butterworth wrote the original script,  adapted from Black Mass: The True Story Of An Unholy Alliance Between The FBI And The Irish Mob by Dick Lehr and Gerard O’Neil. The story James ‘Whitey’ Bulger, a major player in organised crime, who became an FBI informant with the help of his childhood friend, the FBI agent John Connolly. Bulger wanted to rid his neighbourhood of Italian mafia elements. While that may sound like a good thing, it actually just strengthened the grip Bulger’s Winter Hill Gang’s grip had on the community.

The FBI eventually double-crossed Bulger, causing the criminal to go into hiding for more than a decade, before he was eventually caught hiding out in California in 2011.

Shooting is is scheduled to begin in May.

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Scott Cooper May Direct Black Mass, With Johnny Depp Circling Once More

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Johnny-DeppFor quite a while Johnny Depp was attached to a biopic of Whitey Bulger, but it all seemed to fall through last year and he left the film behind. Now Deadline reports he’s once more in the mix for the lead role in Black Mass and Out Of The Furnace’s Scott Cooper is likely to direct.

The movie will be based on Black Mass: The True Story of an Unholy Alliance Between the FBI and the Irish Mob, written by former Boston Globe reporters Dick Lehr and Gerald O’Neill. However events have slightly overtaken the 2001 book, with writer Mark Mallouk’s screenplay taking into account that Bulger – who had been on the FBI’s Ten Most Wanted list for more than a decade – was captured in June 2011.

Joel Edgerton was previously set to play FBI agent John Connolly, a childhood friend of Bulger who brought down the Italian mob in South Boston. It’s not known if he’s still likely to be involved.

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New Out of the Furnace Trailer – Christian Bale & Casey Affleck go crime thriller

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Christian Bale’s first post-Batman movie is Out Of The Furnace, which sees him getting his thriller on opposite Casey Affleck, Woody Harrelson, Zoe Saldana, Willem Dafoe and Forest Whitaker. Now we can get a good taste of the film with a new trailer and the poster below.

Here’s the synopsis: ‘Russell (Christian Bale) and his younger brother Rodney (Casey Affleck) live in the economically-depressed Rust Belt, and have always dreamed of escaping and finding better lives. But when a cruel twist of fate lands Russell in prison, his brother is lured into one of the most violent and ruthless crime rings in the Northeast – a mistake that will almost cost him everything. Once released, Russell must choose between his own freedom, or risk it all to seek justice for his brother.’

A December US release is set. [Read more…]

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