A comedy based around recently apprehended mobster Whitey Bulger is one step closer to the small screen.
Fox has purchased a project from former "Seinfeld" writer-producer Peter Mehlman, about a young couple who unwittingly live next door to a murderer, Mehlman told TheWrap on Tuesday.
Though the half-hour, multiple-camera comedy will not literally feature Bulger (pictured at left) as a character, Mehlman told TheWrap in August that the pilot was inspired by the fact that Bulger, 82, was found living a life of leisure in Santa Monica, Calif., in June by the FBI after a decades-long manhunt.
"I can’t imagine how many times I walked past him," Mehlman said. "They had a dog and walked it in Palisades Park. I walked [my dog] Izzy there every night at sunset. I probably saw him 50 times — and he has 19 murders under his belt, allegedly."
Mehlman told TheWrap that John Malkovich is at the top of his dream-casting list for the role.
Bulger will also be the subject of a film from Brookstreet Pictures, based on the book "Street Soldier: My Life as an Enforcer for Whitey Bulger and the Boston Irish Mob." Peter Facinelli and Robert DeFranco are producing.
