'Twilight' Actor Peter Facinelli to Produce Whitey Bulger Biopic

8:24 PM PDT 6/28/2011 by Ros Krasny

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The film is based on the book 'Street Soldier' by a former Bulger henchman.

Peter Facinelli, a co-star of TV's Nurse Jackie and a key actor in the Twilight movies, jumped on the Whitey Bulger bandwagon on Tuesday when he unveiled plans for a Hollywood film about the Boston mobster.

Producer Graham King Fast-tracking Crime Movie Featuring Whitey Bulger

"I'm producing a Whitey Bulger movie based on book Street Soldier with Brookstreet Pictures," Facinelli said on his Facebook page.

Bulger, the former mob kingpin accused of 19 murders from the 1970s and 1980s and a raft of other crimes, was arrested last week in California after being on the run for 16 years.

The long-time leader of the Irish-American Winter Hill Gang has been the subject of several books, and inspired Jack Nicholson's sadistic gangster character in the 2006 Oscar-winning Martin Scorcese film, The Departed.

On its website, independent film production company Brookstreet said it would team with Facinelli Films to produce an adaptation of the 2003 book.

Brookstreet CEO Trevor Matthews will be one of the co-producers with Facinelli.

Street Soldier: My Life as an Enforcer for Whitey Bulger and the Boston Irish Mob was written by one-time boxer and drug-dealer Edward Mackenzie Jr., with authors Phyllis Karas and Ross Muscato. A script based on the book, which was optioned by Facinelli last year, is already in hand.