While his big bro, Ben Affleck, has moved solidly into becoming one of the most respected directors in the biz, Casey has been busy carving out a role for himself as an actor unafraid to tackle challenging roles about complicated men. I'd point you to his recent turn as the psychotic lawman in Michael Winterbottom's The Killer Inside Me, or his Oscar nominated performance in The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford. But the latest may be the most complicated of all, as he's set to play William "The Corrupt Midget" Bulger in his brother's planned Whitey Bulger biopic.
As reported just a couple of days ago, the Good Will Hunting duo of Ben Affleck and Matt Damon will be teaming up with The Sopranos scribe Terrence Winter on this one, the story of the infamous Boston mobster Whitey Bulger, who spent 16 years on the run from the FBI before being captured earlier this year. Affleck will direct, with Damon starring.
William was a popular figure in Massachusetts politics, elected to the state House of Representative in 1961 before moving to the state Senate in 1970. He served as President of the Massachusetts State Senate in 1978 and had the longest tenure in their history. Despite often being battered politically for his brother's criminal career and William's supposed ignorance of it, he remained a fixture until controversy forced his retirement.
Casey will be seen in just a couple of weeks as part of Brett Ratner's heist comedy, Tower Heist. And soon he'll be co-starring in Alex Proyas' big budget adaptation of Paradise Lost.
