June 30th is the last day of filming...'Public Enemies'

Lights, camera, finished

http://s238.photobucket.com/albums/ff311/EdwardScissorhandsLuv/2008-06-09%20Wisconsin/ (password: johnny)

It's been a fun Hollywood ride for Chicago and our region.

But director Michael Mann's film "Public Enemies" starring Johnny Depp as John Dillinger is near completion.

And true to the usual scenario, the $80-million film about the Feds trying to take down notorious American gangsters Dillinger, Baby Face Nelson and Pretty Boy Floyd during a booming crime wave in the 1930s, has gone both over-budget and is soon to go over the amount of designated script shooting days.

The film officially began shooting March 17 up in Madison, Wis., before the cast and crew made their way to Crown Point to shoot for the full week following Easter Sunday.

And so, even though the project was only scheduled for 69 shooting days, according to Depp's contract, the film will end up wrapping all of its Midwest on-location shooting at the end of this month, according to David Kelly, one of the assistant directors for the Universal Pictures movie, which is set to open in theaters in July 2009.

How pinched are they to complete this process before June 30?

They've already started to schedule scenes to be filmed on Saturdays.

Last week, Mann captured some great "late night" scenes at our own Indiana Dunes, featuring Depp and recent Oscar-winning actress Marion Cotillard, who plays girlfriend Billie Frechette, with their scene unfolding with the two parked in a vintage car and discussing the gangster's future plans.

And even more spectacular were scenes shot with Depp and Cotillard at Chicago's famed Aragon Ballroom, 1106 W. Lawrence Ave., the historic structure built in 1926 and still used as a concert venue.

Requiring hundreds of extras, all required to be fitted in vintage formal attire, casting call times were at 6 p.m. each night and the shooting didn't begin until 10 p.m. and lasted all through the night until 7 a.m..

But, as a bonus, not on ly did the extras get to watch Depp do his thing in front of the cameras, but they also got to watch some free entertainment, well, at least in part.

Singer Elvis Costello's wife, torch singer Diane Krall, was featured on stage performing with a full orchestra.

Unfortunately, according to the extras I talked to, Krall was made to keep repeating the same short song verse over and over as the scene was re-lit, re-shot and re-created for multiple takes.

At least Krall is used to this drill when it comes to filming a movie.

She gave a similar stellar performance before the cameras in retro style in the same capacity for the 2004 big screen MGM feature film "De-Lovely," about the life of Indiana's own Cole Porter, starring Kevin Kline as Hoosier music man.

For that go-round, she sang "It Was Just One of Those Things" and "I Get a Kick Out of You."


http://www.nwi.com/articles/2008/06/15/columnists/offbeat/doc29680a42b66f544586257466007b4153.txt

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After filming in Aurora in April, film crews for the Johnny Depp movie Public Enemies are moving back to the region this week to shoot prison scenes in Joliet and Crest Hill.

Public Enemies, scheduled for release in summer 2009, depicts the FBI hunt for 1930s gangsters John Dillinger, "Baby Face" Nelson and "Pretty Boy" Floyd.

Depp, who plays Dillinger, is expected to be in Joliet.

The film crew was in Aurora in early spring to shoot at the Paramount Theatre, a stand-in for the Biograph Theater in Chicago where Dillinger was shot by lawmen in 1934.

Public Enemies is expected to use both the closed Joliet Correctional Center in Joliet and Stateville Correctional Center in Crest Hill.

Ashley Cross, a spokesman for the Illinois Film Office, said, "Public Enemies is scheduled to be in Joliet ... starting on Monday. But their schedule is a bit fluid."

The Illinois Department of Corrections has been working with the movie production staff for filming "at our facilities in Joliet," a state spokesman said.

http://www.suburbanchicagonews.com/beaconnews/news/1007279,2_1_AU16_DEPP_S1.article

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Johnny was returning to Los Angeles from the set of Public Enemies, to spend Father's Day with his family.
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(password: johnny)
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