Now here’s a project I’m genuinely excited about: Irish director Jim Sheridan (In the Name of the Father, The Boxer and, er, the 50 Cent movie Get Rich or Die Tryin’) is set to adapt the true crime tale Black Mass: The True Story of an Unholy Alliance Between the FBI and the Irish Mob. It’s the story of Boston mob boss Whitey Bulger and corrupt federal agent John Connolly, who aided and abetted his criminal empire for decades. (If this sounds familiar, it’s probably because The Departed drew heavily on the Bulger legend.) "This is a story of a corrupt system and about how an angry guy became the second most wanted man after Bin Laden," Sheridan told Variety.

Gore Verbinski has gone to the Black List for his next project. Said list is “an unofficial Hollywood tally of promising unmade scripts,” and Verbinski has plucked one formerly titled Black Hole from the pile. Michael Gilio’s script “focuses on a retired rancher who responds to a phone solicitation swindle that wipes out his savings,” Variety reports. You’re picturing Tommy Lee Jones too, aren’t you?

“Focus Features is developing a biopic about Fela Kuti, the Nigerian musician and political maverick,” per The Hollywood Reporter. “Kuti, whose full name is Fela Anikulapo-Kuti, garnered fame in the U.S. for his fusion style of music known as Afrobeat. He often was imprisoned on what human-rights groups called trumped-up charges when he went back to his native country and spoke out against its government and policies. He died in 1997.”

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