Editorials > Depp Confirmed for Mann's Public Enemies

Just a quick update on a story we ran Tuesday, Johnny Depp has signed on to play legendary bank robber John Dillinger in Michael Mann's Public Enemies. Variety reports that the two "shook hands on a deal that triggers a March 10 start for Public Enemies in Chicago."

The film is set amidst the 1933-34 crime wave, and concerns famous Chicago gangsters such as Dillinger, Baby Face Nelson, and Pretty Boy Floyd, as well as the FBI men out to get them. Mann wrote the screenplay based on Bryan Burrough's 2004 nonfiction book. Kevin Misher and Misher Films will produce along with Mann and his Forward Pass.

This film came to be largely due to the fact that Depp became suddenly available when Mira Nair's Shantaram shut down due to the writers strike, questions about the costs, and the hazards of shooting during monsoon season.

-David Morgan