Deadline reports that Whiplash Oscar winner and Spider-Man hater J.K. Simmons has been cast to lead The Westies, a crime drama from co-creators Christ Brancato and Michael Panes for MGM+.
The Westies is set in the early 1980s when the construction of the Jacob Javitz Convention Center on the Westies’ home turf in Hell’s Kitchen promises a financial windfall for the Irish-American organized crime gang. Despite being outnumbered 50-to-1 by the Five Families of the Italian mafia, the Westies’ legendary brutality and cunning have given them the leverage necessary to share the spoils through a fragile détente. But internal conflict between the brash younger generation and the old-school leadership threatens to set a match to this powder keg, which will sweep the Westies into the FBI’s ever-deepening investigation into the Italian mafia.
Simmons will play Eamon Sweeney, the charismatic but ruthless leader of The Westies whose old-school charm and neighborhood loyalty mask fierce criminal ambition and calculated brutality.
Simmons has had a long career of diverse roles, bouncing between drama, comedy and other genres with ease. He is most known for playing Daily Bugle editor J. Jonah Jameson in Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man trilogy where his hatred of the wallcrawler leads him to publish several stories against Spider-Man. He is so beloved in the role Marvel Studios brought him back as Jameson into the main MCU for Spider-Man: No Way Home. His other most well-known role is for Damien Chazelle’s Whiplash as the cruel and abusive music teacher Terrance Fltecher for which he won a Best Actor Oscar award.
“J.K. Simmons doesn’t just play authority — he radiates it,” said Brancato. “We’re lucky to have an actor who brings the gravitas and danger that this world demands.”
“J.K. Simmons is one of the finest actors working today,” said MGM+ head Michael Wright. “His authenticity and intensity bring an invaluable quality to this complex and exhilarating story, and we can’t wait to see him bring this unforgettable character to life.”
Brancato previously created Narcos, Godfather of Harlem and Hotel Cocaine. He will executive produce and showrun The Westies with production scheduled to begin in July in Toronto.
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