Jim Sheridan is set to direct a big-screen drama based on Dick Lehr and Gerard O'Neill's book "Black Mass: The True Story of an Unholy Alliance Between the FBI and the Irish Mob."

According to Variety, Sheridan wrote the screenplay with Nye Heron. The film focuses on Whitey Bulger, a Boston enforcer who helped build the Winter Hill Gang, a confederation known for selling drugs and delivering guns to the Irish Republican Army.

"This is a story of a corrupt system and about how an angry guy became the second most wanted man after Bin Laden," Sheridan told Variety.

Sheridan's last directing effort was "Get Rich or Die Tryin'." He is currently working on the post-production for "Brothers," starring Jake Gyllenhaal, Natalie Portman and Tobey Maguire.

As for Heron, he served as second unit director on Sheridan's "The Boxer," "In America" and the two flicks I mentioned just above.

Jim Sheridan is set to write and direct the big-screen adaptation of Robert Graves' classic novel "I, Claudius" for Relativity Media.

The Hollywood Reporter says Graves' 1934 novel recounts the internecine plots and counterplots surrounding Claudius, the fourth emperor of Rome who ruled from 41-54 A.D.

Sheridan will write the script with Nye Heron, his longtime second unit director. "I, Claudius" made it onto the big screen for the first time in 1937, followed by a BBC miniseries in 1976.

Sheridan, whose directing credits include "My Left Foot" and "In America," is currently working on "Brothers," which stars Jake Gyllenhaal, Tobey Maguire and Natalie Portman. The film is a remake of Susanne Bier's acclaimed hit of the same title.