His latest film "Brothers" is garnering Oscar buzz, but Irish film-maker has more up his sleeve, including a movie called "Black Mask," about Boston Irish gangster Whitey Bulger.

Born in Dublin in 1949 Sheridan moved to American in 1982. He has worked as an actor as well as a director and his movies have covered a host of familiar Irish subjects:  land ownership and inheritance in “The Field”; IRA violence and false accusations in “In the Name of The Father”; imprisonment and release in “The Boxer”; and the immigrant experience in a movie called “In America.”

He told the story of disabled Irish artist Christy Brown in “My Left Foot”, whose stars, Brenda Fricker and Daniel Day-Lewis, both won Oscars. Sheridan also worked with Day-Lewis on a number of other films.

Sheridan’s latest offering, “Brothers,” is based on a film by Danish director Susan Biers. It tells the story of a family in which one brother is a soldier who goes missing in Afghanistan, while his younger sibling is left to take care of his family. Jake Gyllenhaal, Natalie Portman and Tobey Maguire star in the film.

In an interview with an entertainment blog called Moviehole the director said he chose to shoot the film in New Mexico. Shooting in Afghanistan “would have been impossible to shoot there from an insurance point of view,” he pointed out.

Sheridan already has other movies in the pipeline, including "Black Mask." James “Whitey” Bulger was a notorious Boston gangster who has been charged with the murders of 19 people. His brother William was a former president of the state Senate and the University of Massachusetts.

Speaking to Moviehole Sheridan said the film would be a way of reimagining the gangster genre with an Irish twist. “It's kind of an Irish movie, about Irish gangsters.”