Johnny Depp is looking like the real gangster James ‘Whitey’ Bulger in Black Mass

After a series of flops, Johnny Depp is back on track, portraying infamous Irish-American criminal, Whitey Bulger, writes Helen Barlow

MUCH has been made of Johnny Depp’s portrayal as James ‘Whitey’ Bulger in Black Mass, but the proof is in the box office. Given how the leader of South Boston’s Winter Hill Gang in the 1970s is ingrained in the American psyche, and to an extent how the ever-transforming Depp is as well, US audiences have turned up to see the R-rated film in sufficient numbers to at least stem the haemorrhaging of the star’s once brilliant career, after his string of box office flops: The Lone Ranger, Transcendence and Mortedcai.