Morning Updates: How Black Mass tries to humanize Whitey
Good morning, Boston. The coming Whitey Bulger movie is getting rave reviews, scenes from move-in day across the city, and the rest of the news you need to know.
Humanizing Whitey Bulger: “[W]hen Scott Cooper decided to make Black Mass into a movie, he had the murderous Mr. Bulger’s humanity on his mind. As in, was there any? ‘I didn’t want to make a film about criminals who happen to have a human side,’ Mr. Cooper said. ‘I wanted to make a film about humans who just happen to be criminals.’ The resulting film is about to leap into Hollywood’s annual awards race.’’ (The New York Times)
Why the U.S. Olympic Committee chose Boston over L.A. in the first place: “[The leader of L.A.’s bid Casey] Wasserman, according to a transcript from Sports Business Daily, suggested that some board members chose Boston because they work or have previously lived here. ‘There are a bunch of athletes based in Boston on that board, and a couple of executives on the board, and Boston in their mind was a new, fresh city,’ he said. Among the USOC board members with ties to Boston are James Benson, former CEO of John Hancock, and Whitney Ping, who works for Bain Capital.’’ (Boston.com)
Wary of NFL, Sony changed parts of new Concussion movie: “Another email on Aug. 1, 2014, said some ‘unflattering moments for the N.F.L.’ were deleted or changed, while in another note on July 30, 2014, a top Sony lawyer is said to have taken ‘most of the bite’ out of the film ‘for legal reasons with the N.F.L. and that it was not a balance issue.’ … ‘We don’t want to give the N.F.L. a toehold to say, ‘They are making it up,’ and damage the credibility of the movie,’ [the director Peter] Landesman said of Sony’s efforts.’’ (The New York Times)
Checking in on Mitt Romney: “As Donald Trump continues to dominate the Republican presidential race, frustration and panic have become high enough to make some inside the party Establishment pine for a candidate they roundly rejected as recently as January: Mitt Romney. Romney himself has become one of Trump’s most vocal detractors inside the party. ‘He’s someone to whom civility means a lot. The whole Trump thing really bothers him,’ a close Romney adviser told me. … Today, Romney is the closest thing the Republican Party has to an elder statesman.’’ (New York magazine)
A near-disaster on Storrow Drive on move-in day:
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Should bikes get off the dang road? “Bicycles can be an enjoyable, even exhilarating, way to get around,’’ Globe columnist Jeff Jacoby writes. “So can horses, skis, and roller skates. Adding any of them to the flow of motorized traffic on roads that already tend to be too clogged, however, is irresponsible and dangerous. … But that doesn’t deter the bicycle lobby, which could give lessons in brass to Donald Trump.’’ (The Boston Globe)
The Goodbye: Scenes from Boston’s city-wide move-in day.
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