The Whitey Bulger drama Black Mass is materializing once again.  The project was gearing up to begin production with Barry Levinson directing, Johnny Depp playing Bulger, and Joel Edgerton in a supporting role, but it fell apart when Depp departed over a salary dispute.  Now the film is heating back up again, this time with Crazy Heart director Scott Cooper in talks to take the helm.  Cooper most recently directed the dark drama Out of the Furnace, and the story of Bulger—a ruthless Boston crime kingpin who topped the FBI’s Most Wanted before turning informant to get rid of his competition—seems right up Cooper’s alley.  Moreover, Deadline adds that talks have rekindled with Depp to return to the role of Bulger.

Depp is currently shooting the comedy Mortedcai and will be shooting Pirates of the Caribbean 5 and Alice in Wonderland 2 later this year.  As for Cooper, he was most recently working on an adaptation of The Stand with Warner Bros., but he subsequently left the project over creative differences.