Who Plays Who?

Johnny Depp Marion Cotillard Christian Bale Channing Tatum Rory Cochrane Billy Crudup John Judd Giovanni Ribisi Diana Krall Stephen Dorff Michael Vieau John Kishline Wesley Walker John Scherp Elena Kenney Madison Dirks Len Bajenski

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John Dillinger Billie Frechette Melvin Purvis Pretty Boy Floyd Agent Carter Baum J Edgar Hoover Turnkey Alvin Karpis Torch Singer Homer Van Meter Ed Shouse Guard Dainard Jim Leslie Earl Adams Viola Norris Agent Warren Barton Police Chief Fultz

What Do The Critics Say

"The stories of depression era American gangsters has held a fascination for filmmakers since ... well, the depression. The exploits of many gangsters turned them into outlaw celebrities, their molls offering seductive peeps into an exotic world where men just took what they wanted, usually at the point of a gun or their penis. The fashions and cars of the era are romanticised symbols that echo an age of machismo and the Wild West after it had moved East." Andrew L Urban URBAN CINEFILE "This chronicle of 1930s bank robber John Dillinger and the efforts of J Edgar Hoover’s federal agents to take him out is headlined by a steelier-than-usual Johnny Depp, who convinces as the wily and ruthless thief. It’s a fascinating moment in history, and Mann captures the cars, the guns and the buildings with painstaking, immersive authenticity." Trevor Johnston TIME OUT "Has the innovative looks and cool appeal to take you under its charged cinematic spell and win you over." Dennis Schwartz OZUS' MOVIE REVIEWS "For people who loved Heat, this is a tour de force." Cammila Albertson TV GUIDE'S MOVIE GUIDE "Depp is playing off a marvelous foil in Marion Cotillard." Kimberly Jones AUSTIN CHRONICLES "Here is a film alive in a way we’ve not perceived before: a breathtakingly new visual experience, a precision-choreographed action thriller, and a classically minded piece of American art." Ian Nathan EMPIRE MAGAZINE "Over 140 minutes that genuinely fly by, Mann crafts a highly atmospheric and emotion-charged movie experience that is sure to be remembered as a touchstone release of 2009. This epic gangster film is more concerned with mood, setting and the criminal psyche than reeling off reams of hard historical data. Which is just as it should be." Leigh Paatsch HERALD SUN

"Johnny Depp's notorious bank robber John Dillinger is always in control, even when the odds are against him. Although director Michael Mann's depiction of Dillinger's life is far from glamorous, in Depp's inimitable hands, he is always a likeable and often a heroic character. Mann's film is an explosive affair, filled with pounding bullets, graphic violence and a heart-warming love story at its core that changes the way we view the cult outlaw who lives only for today." Louise Keller URBAN CINEFILE "Shot in pin-sharp high-definition, this is one amazing-looking movie, where even the most ordinary scenes crackle with energy and suspense. As with "Heat", Mann's made not just the crime drama of the year, but possibly of the decade too." David Edwards MIRROR "This superstar crime thriller emerges as something surprising, fascinating and technically dazzling. Don’t expect a Hollywood movie. Expect a Michael Mann movie." Rob James TOTAL FILM "This crisp digital look affords Public Enemies an incredible sense of immediacy. Mann, too, has a strong eye for forensic detail that ramps up the vividness of the film." Michael Bonner UNCUT MAGAZINE UK "This is a hugely enjoyable, impressively directed thriller with a great ensemble cast and powerful performances by Johnny Depp, Christian Bale and Marion Cotillard." Matthew Turner VIEW LONDON "Michael Mann's "Public Enemies" is not the first film inspired by the career of bank robber John Dillinger (Johnny Depp), who cut a swathe across the Midwest in the depths of the Depression. The scenes between Dillinger and his girlfriend Billie Frechette (Marion Cotillard) are the most charged in the film, and yet their romance barely has time to get going before they’re whisked away from each other. A triumph of pure cinema, Public Enemies is one of the most visually experimental films of Mann’s career." Jake Wilson THE AGE

The Inside Story Though many essays, books, songs and films have told fascinating stories from the Great Depression, Michael Mann has long been interested in examining this turbulent era through the experience of a criminal who became a folk hero for a generation. For Americans in the early 1930s, who watched their life savings vanish and became jobless and hungry, they found a hero in a man who robbed and challenged the banks that caused the collapse and the government that could not fix it: John Herbert Dillinger (June 22nd 1903 to July 22nd 1934. Mann, who had previously written a screenplay about the era: the famed train robber and bank robber Alvin Karpis; explains Dillinger’s appeal: "Dillinger, probably the best bank robber in American history, only lasted thirteen months. He was paroled in May of 1933, and by July 22nd 1934, he was dead. Dillinger didn’t 'get out' of prison; he exploded onto the landscape. And he was going to have everything and get it right now. In assaulting the bank and outwitting the government, to people battered by the Depression, it’s as if he spoke for them. He was a celebrity outlaw, a populist hero." While no time frame in either Dillinger’s or nemesis Melvin Purvis's lives could be considered particularly ordinary, the filmmakers were interested in a very specific window as they imagined Public Enemies. "It was this fourteen month run of Dillinger’s life that opened a window for us into a confluence of forces that were at work during this period of American history," says producer Kevin Misher ("Welcome to the Jungle"). "There was a nexus between John Dillinger, perhaps one of the more famous Americans of the 20th century; Melvin Purvis, the underanalyzed G-man; and J. Edgar Hoover, a titan of American history. These three were in a dance of power and death." Soon after his release from prison until late June 1934, Dillinger embarked upon a whirlwind bank-robbing spree across the Midwest that attracted fervent nationwide attention, especially from J Edgar Hoover and his nascent Bureau of Investigation. To track and capture Dillinger, Hoover assigned a young, square-jawed agent named Melvin Purvis, whose profile actually inspired cartoonist Chester Gould in creating the look for Dick Tracy. But Dillinger and his men proved to be much wilier than the FBI agents, who would eventually bring down such gangsters as Pretty Boy Floyd or their boss could ever imagine. Time and again, the outlaw embarrassed government at every level and escaped from seemingly impossible situations, including a breakout of his crew from Indiana State Prison in September 1933, an escape from the Lake County Jail in Crown Point, Indiana, in March 1934 and an evasion of Purvis at the Little Bohemia travel lodge in northern Wisconsin in April 1934. And while his men never hesitated in the use of violence, the often chivalrous Dillinger could be counted upon to give money back to citizens during a bank robbery and not curse in front of female hostages. When it comes to the law and lawless, Mann understands and appreciates that truth is stranger than fiction. Dillinger and his pursuer's story was just the inspiration he was looking for in his next project. "Their mobility and use of technology made them almost invincible," Mann ("Manhunter") says. "This was happening at a time when massive forces conspired against Dillinger: what Hoover built with the FBI; the first national police force, the first interstate crime bill, the use of very progressive, modern technology and data management. They were doing what is routine in law enforcement now, but what had never been done before in this country. In a frustrated effort to escalate the pursuit by Purvis and his agents, Hoover enlisted the aid of a Western lawman, Special Agent Charles Winstead, and two of his associates to track Dillinger. That, coupled with such orders to arrest relatives, girlfriends and associates of the criminals (in the FBI’s efforts to get tough on crime), did the trick. While eluding the law, the bank robber had traveled across the country with girlfriend Billie Frechette, spending money in lavish quantities and rubbing elbows with the elite of Florida. Eventually, Dillinger’s luck ran out at the Biograph Theatre in Chicago on July 22, 1934. He had gone to the theatre to see Clark Gable, William Powell and Myrna Loy in "Manhattan Melodrama". As he was leaving the theatre, law enforcement officials Charles B Winstead, Clarence O Hurt and Herman E Hollis; under the direction of Agent Purvis and with the help of a Dillinger traitor called the 'Lady in Red' (Austro-Hungarian born Romanian prostitute and Chicago brothel owner Anna Sage) moved in. Dillinger (who had a reward of US$10,000,000 on his head) pulled out a weapon and attempted to flee. He was shot three times. A bullet through his face killed him. Devastated fans of the 'Jackrabbit' dipped handkerchiefs in the pool left by his blood, and thousands lined up at the morgue to view his body. From curious onlookers to lawmen, everyone wanted a piece of the legacy. Dillinger was buried in Crown Hill Cemetery in Indianapolis, Indiana. When deciding upon the actor who would portray the principal outlaw, Mann turned to a performer known for immersing himself in his roles. He found the complex character he needed for his interpretation of John Dillinger in three time Oscar nominee (2004, '05 & '08) and 2008 Golden Globe winner Johnny Depp ("Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street"). "Deep in the core of Johnny there’s a toughness," commends Mann. "When we started talking about it, he said that he had been interested in Dillinger for a long time and that Dillinger reminded him of some people from his past. He had Dillinger in him; that’s something I sensed. Everybody has these dark currents inside of us, but to be able to reach down in a movie and plumb those depths and bring that up: that’s courageous." Depp explained his long interest in the gangster: "Funny enough, when I was a little kid, there was a long period where I was fascinated with John Dillinger. No particular explanation why, I just was; he struck my fancy somehow." In preparation for the shoot, Mann, who had decided to film in some of the actual locations where the story took place (like the Crown Point Jail, Little Bohemia and the Biograph) was able to provide Depp with the actual clothing and personal articles of Dillinger. Depp was able to spend time in some of the haunts frequented by the 'Gentleman Bandit' and handle weaponry the man had used. Also informative were his personal experiences. "I read many books on him, but aside from all the research, more of it had to do with an instinct and understanding of the man. I related to John Dillinger like he was a relative. I felt he was of the same blood. He reminded me of my stepdad and very much of my grandfather. He seemed to be one of those guys with absolutely no bull whatsoever, who lived at a time when a man was a man." From his rise as a golden boy of the FBI to his need to get his hands dirty if he hoped to catch Dillinger, Purvis was just the complex part that Christian Bale was eager to tackle. The actor was particularly interested in the conflict he believed existed within Purvis. "He had such accolades in the press as a hero and was regarded so highly," Bale notes. "I think Purvis was very conflicted about the direction that the Bureau was taking in its effort to become efficient." Bale extended his feelings about that conundrum to Purvis’ capture of Dillinger and the ruthless tactics pushed by Hoover. "There may have been no satisfaction for Purvis to pursue Dillinger. In my interpretation, I felt that by the time they got him, Purvis must have believed he had to compromise himself and his own values so much that he was questioning who was the loser here." For Public Enemies, he and Mann took an investigative trip to FBI headquarters in Quantico, Virginia, and spent time with Melvin Purvis's son, Alston. With no voice recording to follow, Bale decided he would use Alston’s southern drawl as his accent for the role. "When Alston Purvis came to visit the set, we were at the Biograph Theater where Dillinger was shot," Misher ("The Interpreter") recalls. "Alston said it was the greatest night of his life, because it was like watching his father come back to life. To have a son of the character who an actor is playing say there’s no other actor on Earth whom he could see play his father: that’s quite a testament to the actor’s performance." To understand Mary Evelyn 'Billie' Frechette (who died of cancer on the 13th of January 1969), Mann spent a good deal of time uncovering the history of the woman who became the singular love of Dillinger’s life. "I tried to figure out the life of Billie: what she was about, what she was doing and how she got by in the Depression. She worked as a hatcheck girl at The Steuben Club; she was an ambitious young woman from a small town making her way in Chicago. What also is very significant is her upbringing. As a Menominee Indian, she was very much a second-class citizen, an outsider." Oscar ® winning actress Marion Cotillard ("La Vie en Rose") was cast by Mann for the part. "After I saw La Vie en Rose, we met. That was it," says the director. As part of her preparation, Mann asked her to meet with a variety of gangster wives, girlfriends, strippers and bar girls to listen to the women’s stories of unfailingly standing by their often-violent men. "He wanted me to understand the feeling of being a convict’s wife and not knowing exactly what the next day would bring," Cotillard ("Big Fish" & "A Good Year") explained. As Frechette was French and Native American (her father was French while her mother was half French and half Indian), the actress spent extensive time with a dialect coach and visited the Menominee reservation to learn about the world from which the gangster’s girlfriend came. There, Cotillard met with members of Frechette’s extended family and discussed the life and primary love of their ancestor. She was quite moved by what she learned about the woman: as well as about the man for whom Frechette went to jail and never betrayed. "It was very emotional," the two time César Award winning actress (2005 & '08) recalls. "When you live a passion, a love like that, you will not turn your back at all the fear that comes from any situation to be with a man who’s a gangster." "The skills of Marion are extraordinary. The commitment, the absolute total commitment to the moment. How deep and thoroughly she would live the truth of a small gesture, a glance," says Mann. "I was profoundly impressed by Marion’s commitment to Billie," Depp stated. "She took so much care in playing her properly and giving Billie her fair shake. Marion worked unbelievably hard on the accent and was profoundly committed to the part. I like her very much, both personally and as someone to get in the ring with." As part of recreating the Dillinger era, one hundred and fourteen different sets were created for the film. Synopsis

No one could stop Dillinger and his gang. No jail could hold him. His charm and audacious jailbreaks endeared him to almost everyone: from his cloakroom girlfriend Billie Frechette to Americans who were looking for a symbol to divert them from their everyday hardships. They found it in the man who took from the banks the monies they felt the banks had wrongly taken from them. But while the adventures of Dillinger’s gang, which would later include the sociopathic Baby Face Nelson and robber come kidnapper Alvin Karpis thrilled many, J Edgar Hoover planned to exploit the outlaw’s capture as a way to elevate his Bureau of Investigation into the national police force that became the FBI. He made Dillinger America’s first Public Enemy Number One and sent in Purvis, the dashing 'Clark Gable of the FBI', to snare him. But capturing the wiley Dillinger and his gang wouldn't be easy.

The Verdict "It would be reasonable for some to think that with a running time of two hours and twenty minutes, to be a bit of an ask for some, to sit through "Public Enemies". Thankfully it isn't. There is never a dull moment in this fascinating reconstruction of American bank robber John Dillinger. The credit for that must go to the brilliant performances of 2008 Oscar ® winning actress Marion Cotillard, 2008 Independent Spirit Award winner Christian Bale and in particular, the incomparable, most remarkable, Mr Johnny Depp. But it is not just the 'stars' who make this such a fascinating film to watch. The recreation of the period, the cinematography, the direction of Michael Mann: all are most note-worthy contributors. But, there is another aspect of the film that is just as note-worthy: D.O.P. Spinotti and Director Mann used multiple HD cameras for almost every scene they shot. This equipment included four of Sony’s new HDC-F23's and the XDCAM-EX1's. The choice to shoot with High Definition Digital, hand-held cameras works like a treat! Unlike other 'shakey' productions cinemagoers may have experienced, "Public Enemies" is so crisp on the screen, audiences will be totally unaware of this fact. Entertaining. Worth seeing for Depp alone. Put it in your diary. Very recommended. 4 STARS." The Production Team

Director Screenplay Producers Original Music Director of photography Film Editor Casting Production Designer Art Direction Set Decoration Costume Design

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Michael Mann Ronan Bennett/Michael Mann/Ann Biderman Michael Mann/Kevin Misher Elliot Goldenthal Dante Spinotti Jeffrey Ford & Paul Rubell Avy Kaufman & Bonnie Timmermann Nathan Crowley William Ladd Skinner Rosemary Brandenburg Colleen Atwood

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