Festival season is almost upon us. Next week we’ll probably start hearing the lineups for the Venice Film Festival and the Toronto International Film Festival, and we’ll know what movies might be trying to make their way in the Oscar race.

While they have yet to announce their full lineup, the Venice Film Festival has revealed that Scott Cooper’s gangster drama Black Mass is picking up some festival cred. The movie will play out of competition at the Festival on September 4th before opening in U.S. theaters on September 18th. The film stars Johnny Depp as notorious mobster Whitey Bulger, who simultaneously worked as an FBI informant and committed horrible crimes throughout the Boston area for decades. The film also stars Joel Edgerton, Benedict Cumberbatch, Rory Cochrane, Jesse Plemons, Dakota Johnson, Peter Sarsgaard, and Kevin Bacon.

In case you haven’t seen it, check out the Black Mass trailer below. The 72nd Venice International Film Festival will run from September 2 – 12th.


Here’s the official synopsis for Black Mass:

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.

black-mass-poster