As the red carpet rolled out, eager fans lined the barriers ready to scream his name. No, not for Johnny Depp who played the lead role in Black Mass, Sunday's gala at the BFI London Film Festival. The crowds were there for Benedict Cumberbatch, with ear-deafening chants of his name as soon as he stepped out of his car.
Black Mass follows the story of Whitey Bulger (Johnny Depp), a notorious 1970s Boston gangster who worked with the FBI as an informant to fight the mafia that were invading his turf. He liaised with his friend, FBI agent John Connolly (Joel Edgerton), who became caught up in his world, while Whitey's brother and Massachusetts State Senator Billy Bulger (Benedict Cumberbatch) refuses to play a part.
Speaking on the red carpet, producer John Lesher had nothing but praise for his ensemble cast. “It’s an embarrassment of riches when you have Johnny, Benedict and Joel,” said Academy Award winner Lesher, who has worked on Birdman, **Fury **and End of Watch. “Scott is such an amazing director of actors so I was pretty confident that we would get the chemistry right.”
Director Scott Cooper described how difficult it was to condense the story, which is based on the 2001 book, Black Mass: The True Story of an Unholy Alliance Between the FBI and the Irish Mob by Boston Globe journalists Dick Lehr and Gerard O'Neill, into a two hour narrative.
“It was an extreme challenge because you can tell the story in an eight hour setting or a television miniseries. It’s so complex and there’s just so much to all of these characters.” But for Cooper, who has films like **Crazy Heart **and Out of the Furnace under his belt, he was determined to tell Bulger’s side of the story. “The true-life nature is what drew me to the project,” he said.
The film also stars Dakota Johnson, Kevin Bacon, Jesse Plemons and Corey Stoll. **Black Mass **is due in UK cinemas on November 27.
*Reporting by Anjali Mandalia, with thanks to Go Think Big and O2. For amazing work opportunities go to Go Think Big.co.uk. *