Johnny Depp's Whitey Bulger Reminds Us Of One Of His Other Gonzo Roles
When Johnny Depp wants to transform into a character, he usually accomplishes it via eye make-up, a funny hat, and/or some sort of stabbing apparatus. But for his role as Boston mob boss Whitey Bulger in the crime drama Black Mass — currently filming in Beantown — Depp went in for the full make-under: A bald spot, a slick of blonde hair, pasty skin and a pair of aviators. All that remains of the familiar Depp is those impossible-to-conceal cheekbones.
Bulger —the Irish crime lord who collaborated with the FBI to take down the Italian mob, only to go into hiding for 16 years — has been a Hollywood hot property since he was found in 2011 and arrested. Another Bulger biopic, starring Matt Damon as the octogenarian gangster, was in development before Mass got underway; that version was scuttled — though, ironically, Depp’s film does costar Damon lookalike Jesse Plemons. And one would hope that Depp is studying Damon in Good Will Hunting to get the accent right: Damon, along with fellow Boston natives Ben Affleck and Mark Wahlberg, are about the only actors you can trust to get the Beantown ahs right. (Jack Nicholson’s character in The Departed was based on Bulger, but the actor barely made an effort for vocal accuracy.)
While Depp does look like a middle-aged mobster, his look is also eerily reminiscent of one of his heroes, gonzo journalist Hunter S. Thompson (below), whom he played in 1998’s Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas with a similar bald pate and glasses. (Though it is hard to imagine Bulger dropping acid in the Irish pubs of Southie.)
Maybe this means that Depp is entering a new phase of his career in which he’s moving away from the Tim Burton fantasias and into more real-world transformations. Or maybe it points to Depp’s lifelong interest in the pantheon of balding icons. There are so many inevitable biopics he could put into motion: Rupert Murdoch, Dick Cheney, Benjamin Franklin….
Photo credits: Depp: FameFlynet Thompson: Chris Felver/Getty Images
