Warner Bros. has released eight clips from “Black Mass," the upcoming crime drama starring Johnny Depp as gangster James "Whitey" Bulger.

Based on the 2001 book “Black Mass: The True Story of an Unholy Alliance Between the FBI and the Irish Mob,” the film tells the true story of how Whitey Bulger, the brother of a Massachusetts state senator and the most notorious criminal in South Boston, became an FBI informant to take down the Italian mob that was invading his territory.

Directed by Scott Cooper (“Crazy Heart, “Out of the Furnace”), “Black Mass” also stars Joel Edgerton, Benedict Cumberbatch, Kevin Bacon, Dakota Johnson, Corey Stoll, Rory Cochrane, Sienna Miller and Adam Scott. The film opens Sept. 18.

Three-time Oscar nominee Johnny Depp (“Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street,” “Finding Neverland,” the “Pirates of the Caribbean” films) stars as notorious mobster James “Whitey” Bulger in the drama “Black Mass,” directed by Scott Cooper (“Crazy Heart”).

The film also stars Joel Edgerton (“The Great Gatsby,” “Zero Dark Thirty”) as FBI Agent John Connolly; Oscar nominee Benedict Cumberbatch (“The Imitation Game”) as Whitey’s brother, powerful State Senator Billy Bulger; Rory Cochrane (“Argo”) as Steve Flemmi, Whitey’s closest partner in crime; Jesse Plemons (TV’s “Fargo”) as Whitey’s main henchman, Kevin Weeks; and Kevin Bacon (“Crazy, Stupid, Love.” TV’s “The Following”) as FBI Special Agent in Charge Charles McGuire.

In 1970s South Boston, FBI Agent John Connolly (Edgerton) persuades Irish mobster Jimmy Bulger (Depp) to collaborate with the FBI in order to eliminate their common enemy: the Italian mob. The drama tells the story of this unholy alliance, which spiraled out of control, allowing Whitey to evade law enforcement while consolidating his power and becoming one of the most ruthless and dangerous gangsters in Boston history.