Trivia / Black Mass

• All-Star Cast: Besides Johnny Depp, other notable actors in the film include Joel Edgerton, Benedict Cumberbatch, Kevin Bacon, Peter Sarsgaard, Dakota Johnson, and Corey Stoll.
• Billing Displacement: Dakota Johnson is billed fourth, but leaves the movie around the 40 minute mark. Her character doesn't even receive her own epilogue segment at the end of the film.
• California Doubling: Revere Beach in Revere, Massachusetts, just north of Boston, was transformed into Miami Beach for the Miami scenes. Filmmakers added real palm trees to the beach, and dressed up a local pizzeria, to look like a Cuban café.
• Creator's Favorite Episode: Johnny Depp named this as his favourite film of his own.
• Deleted Role: Sienna Miller shot scenes as Catherine Greig, Whitey's girlfriend who went on the run with him, all of which were removed from the final cut.
• Dueling Movies: With Spotlight, which is also about a particularly dark moment in Boston's recent history.
• Dyeing for Your Art: Jesse Plemons gained weight for his role as Kevin Weeks. Producers of Fargo asked him to keep the weight on. He portrays a character who is a butcher by profession.
• Fake American / Fake Irish: Australian Joel Edgerton and British Benedict Cumberbatch play Boston natives of Irish descent, as do Juno Temple and Dakota Johnson (who is American but not from Boston).
• Missing Trailer Scene: The beating of John McIntyre, shown in most promotional spots, was ultimately cut from the film.
• Playing Against Type: For composer Junkie XL (credited under his real name Tom Holkenborg), best known for big bombastic blockbuster music scores like Mad Max: Fury Road and Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, the somber string-heavy score of Black Mass was a notable departure from his usual work.
• What Could Have Been:
  • Guy Pearce was originally cast as William Bulger, but dropped out of the project for undisclosed reasons.
  • Tom Hardy had been considered for John Connolly, but dropped out and was replaced.
  • Margot Robbie turned down the role of Lindsey Cyr due to scheduling conflicts. Jennifer Lawrence also turned the part down due to scheduling conflicts. Anne Hathaway, Scarlett Johansson, Felicity Jones, Anna Kendrick and Blake Lively were all considered for the role.

---