Public Enemies

This is definitely at the top of my list for 2009.

I really hope we get a good scene between Depp and Bale, ala DeNiro and Pacino in Heat.
 
Heat was a good thriller and I liked Pacino vs. DeNiro scenes, but still I don't think it's the best example of crime drama, especially for such film as Public Enemies, which also has noir elements as I guess.
 
Ive not heard anything about Noir elements Cine. looking at the way it's set up according to that LR article. I'd say Heat from another era is a pretty good description of one of the central story arcs. there is a richer overall story around this one though.
 
http://www.latinoreview.com/news/exclusive-public-enemies-story-details-3696

Exclusive: Public Enemies Story Details!

Date: January 21, 2008

By: El Mayimbe
Source: CAXE

El Mayimbe aqui…

Another year, another set of dope scripts. My favorite reader in the world CAXE recently took a look at Michael Mann’s PUBLIC ENEMIES and I have to admit, CAXE got me all jazzed about seeing this. This sounds really hot, and with the addition of Depp and Bale, it should make for a kick ass film. HEAT Meets THE UNTOUCHABLES?! I’m so there in 2009. The film is an adaptation of Bryan Burrough's book Public Enemies: America's Greatest Crime Wave and the Birth of the FBI, 1933-43," the Universal Pictures project follows the government's attempt to stop the criminals John Dillinger, Baby Face Nelson and Pretty Boy Floyd. Depp is playing Dillinger.

Bale would play Melvin Purvis, who led the FBI's manhunt for Dillinger and captured more public enemies than any other agent in FBI history.

What did CAXE have to say?

Read along…

bale-depp.jpg


Yo Mayimbe! I just read Michael Mann’s new project Public Enemies. I wasn’t too excited about this project after Miami Vice, but now that I’ve read it – ****, I cannot wait until 2009 because it seems Michael Mann might actually be back in top form with Public Enemies. This is Heat meets The Untouchables, with the potential for gorgeous settings, well-paced drama, and smoldering action sequences reminiscent of one of best period pieces of all time (at least in my mind), LA Confidential.

Public Enemies
is about John Dillinger, but it’s not a bio pic by any means. We pick up in 1933, after Dillinger is already a notorious gangster, and follow him into the last few years of his life as he runs from the law and tries to fit into a world of crime that is quickly rendering his ways obsolete. Johnny Depp is perfect for Dillinger – a seriously spot-on, perfect piece of casting. Christian will shine as Purvis, the unrelenting and Dick Tracy-esque federal agent hunting Dillinger. I’m excited to see who else will join the cast – no doubt a few more heavy-hitters because there are some meaty supporting roles here.

September 1933. JOHN DILLINGER is driven to prison by his partner and confidant, RED HAMILTON. As he gets processed into prison again, several inmates break out and report to Dillinger, who leads them back to Red and the getaway car.

Now we see MELVIN PURVIS, federal agent, run after PRETTY BOY FLOYD. After a good chase, Purvis fires at Floyd and hits him, killing the gangster.

In the throes of the Great Depression, Dillinger sets up shop in Chicago with a network of men, including a gunsmith, a corrupt cop, and a car dealer – he’s nearly invincible: His robberies are perfectly planned – every man on his team has a job and does it well. There are no casualties and to top things off, Dillinger has the public’s support – he is a charismatic and good looking gentleman who is always nice to the civilians, as he assures them he is only after the bank’s money, not theirs.

Meanwhile in Washington, a young politician named J. EDGAR HOOVER tries to get more money from Congress to fight organized crime. Hoover is an arrogant and stubborn elite, but he’s dynamic, gets results, and is bent on ridding the world of men like John Dillinger. Hoover is impressed with Purvis, Back from his capture of Pretty Boy Floyd, and assigns him on his new mission: destroy Dillinger.

Purvis tracks Dillinger and we get to see a number of old surveillance methods, including old fashioned wire taps, but Dillinger is always a step ahead. One night at a club, Dillinger meets a beautiful young girl named BILLIE and falls in love on the spot. He pursues her and his charm wins her over.

Later on, Dillinger is captured again, but not for long – his charisma and clever maneuvering, as well as ties to a slick lawyer, afford him the chance to once again escape from custody.

But this notoriety wears thin and Dillinger slowly realizes that his Robin Hood style antics of bank robberies may be a thing of the past. As his connections begin to dwindle, Dillinger has to start doing things he thought he’d never do to survive, all while Purvis gets closer in his pursuit – and from Hoover’s orders, it’s clear that Dillinger is wanted more dead than alive.



The first act is just stupendous. It made me skeptical because typically, when a first act is good, the rest can suck. While there is some sagging at later points in the story, however, overall, the rest of the story finishes just as good as the first act – this is a dynamite project. We have a great, twisting plot that balances Dillinger’s crime story and his love affair with the overall picture of organized crime in the 1930s and how the government was trying to stop it.

There are a ton of characters – and all of them, from the big roles down to the small supporting ones, are well written. Given the right cast, this is an ensemble that can shine like the aforementioned LA Confidential, Zodiac, or The Departed. The dialogue is slick and refreshing as well as captivating, all while matching the period. The history literally jumps out at you – in this sense, the historical accuracy in every aspect of this story reminded me a great deal of something in the scope of The Aviator. Also, there are some flat out fantastic action sequences, from the opening jail break to the final tension-filled climax.

I honestly can’t say enough good things about this. I loved it. In terms of comparison with the recent American Gangster – I honestly was a little let down by American Gangster; I liked it, but it was a little underwhelming. I think that Public Enemies is going to be everything American Gangster wasn’t for me – the story is tighter, the drama and romance better written, and the set pieces just rife with potential.

Honestly, the only criticism I would have for Public Enemies is the ending. I can forgive a weak film with a great ending, but I have a hard time forgiving a great film with a weak ending. This ending isn’t weak – the ending is kind of… a letdown. It makes total sense and resolves an important piece of the story, but my problem isn’t with the scene itself, but we need a bigger ending – something worthy of such a kick ass film, because, in the end, it’s all about the ending. It doesn’t take much to please me – even just a half a page bigger in scope and I’m happy. Let’s hope that an idea has been cooking in Mann’s head for this project during the strike.

I cannot think of anything else I did not like. Public Enemies now tops my list of films to see in 2009, and that, my friends, cannot come soon enough.

A+ all the way.

slick
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Depp and Bale? I must be dreaming.

I need new pants.
 
http://www.comingsoon.net/news/movienews.php?id=41324

Five More Join Michael Mann's Enemies
Source: Variety
January 27, 2008


Director Michael Mann has set Marion Cotillard (La Vie en rose), Channing Tatum, Giovanni Ribisi, Stephen Dorff and Jason Clarke to join Johnny Depp and Christian Bale in Public Enemies.

Variety says the Depression-era crime drama gets under way in Chicago on March 10 for Universal Pictures.

The Oscar-nominated Cotillard will play Billie Frechette, the lover of the country's most notorious gangster, John Dillinger (Depp).

Tatum will play outlaw Pretty Boy Floyd, Ribisi will play Alvin Karpis, Dorff is near a deal to play Homer Van Meter, and Clarke will play John "Red" Hamilton. That quartet repped a Dillinger gang that knocked off banks all over the Midwest during the Depression.

Bale plays Melvin Purvis, who was tapped by FBI chief J. Edgar Hoover to lead a manhunt that established the FBI as the country's first federal police force after the G-Men killed Dillinger outside the Biograph Theater in 1934.

The shooting script was written by Ronan Bennett, Ann Biderman and Mann. Mann will produce with Kevin Misher. Jane Rosenthal is executive producer.
 
I'm looking forward to this film quite a bit. A Depp and Bale team up is such pure gold. I'm a big fan of both the leads. Michael Mann is okay, he did a great job with Collateral, though. 30's depression era is also interesting. Looking forward to this.

Anyone know the 2009 release date?
 
Some of it may be filmed in Wisconsin! For better or worse!
 
wow this movie has one of the best casts i've seen in a movie in a long time.
 
He will look bad pitted against Depp and Bale.
 
This is an extremely interesting read, for anyone who's interested.

THE CROP REPORT - 2/20/08 (PUBLIC ENEMIES)
  • By Jeremy Smith
  • Published 20th February
The Crop: Public Enemies

The Studio: Universal Pictures

The Director: Michael Mann

The Writers: Ronan Bennett w/ revisions by Ann Biderman and Mann

The Cast: Johnny Depp, Christian Bale, Marion Cotillard, Channing Tatum, Giovanni Ribisi, Jason Clarke, Stephen Dorff and John Ortiz

The Premise: Gentleman bank robber John Dillinger and square-jawed federal agent Melvin Purvis do the Neil McCauley/Vincent Hannah dance in an impeccably structured narrative that starts with Dillinger's 1933 escape from the Indiana State Prison and concludes with his assassination outside Chicago's Biograph Theatre in 1934.

The Context: Does Michael Mann really need a hit? That depends on the studios' willingness to continue granting the sixty-five-year-old director substantial budgets and final cut even though his films rarely gross north of $70 million domestically (Collateral, starring a pre-couch Tom Cruise, is his only film to crack $100 million). For a while, Mann dodged this kind of ruthless, bottom-line thinking by attaching bankable stars to his less-than-bankable projects (strange to think that Ali wasn't bankable, but boxing hasn't been a serious draw in this country since Mike Tyson bit off Evander Holyfield's ear*), but then Miami Vice happened. Suddenly, the studios weren't so hot on the notoriously exacting filmmaker.

We know this because I'm not writing about what will probably (and sadly) be known in perpetuity as Mann/Logan Project. A lavishly imagined film noir set against the backdrop of 1930s Hollywood, the production couldn't entice a single studio in town despite the marketable leading man presence of Leonardo DiCaprio to offset its proposed $120 million (New Line tried to interest Mann in a massively scaled-back $90 million rendition, but he wisely declined). Had Mann come calling in the wake of The Insider, the answer almost certainly would've been "Is $120 million all you need?" But after the extreme commercial disappointment of the very pricey Miami Vice in 2006, there was a sense that the filmmaker couldn't be trusted, that his instincts were off. The Insider had bought Mann all kinds of prestige clout, but, evidently, this goodwill was all used up.

So Mann began to cast about for something a little more affordable, or, barring that, vastly more commercial than a backlot noir starring one of today's hottest stars. One potential project was The Winter of Frankie Machine, an adaptation of Don Winslow's aging hit man yarn being developed by Robert De Niro. Getting back together with one-half of Heat's thespian dream team sounded promising enough, but was the material durable enough to withstand Mann's aggressive tinkering? Before we could see a script, Mann was on to the next big thing, a second go-round with Will Smith called Empire. Described by Smith as a Richard III-influenced character study of a media mogul, the screenplay was still in its nascent stages back in December of '07; it would be some time before it was up to Mann's precise standards.

Well, since the studios aren't buying 1930s noirs, how about Public Enemies, a... 1930s gangster epic centered on the adversarial relationship between expert criminal John Dillinger and stolid G-man Melvin Purvis? It's like the Mann/Logan project, but stripped of glitz and DiCaprio! If the studios aren't going for DiCaprio as a gumshoe, you'll get shut down all over town unless you've got, say, Johnny Depp attached as Dillinger.

So Mann went and got, say, Johnny Depp attached as Dillinger. But how's the Dillinger saga more commercial than the Logan noir?

The Script: I imagine the pitch going something like this: "What if I could give you a younger, sexier Heat in 134 minutes with Johnny Depp and Christian Bale?", at which point Universal quickly forgot the myriad headaches of Miami Vice and coughed up the nine-figure budget.

At least the studio knows all of the shooting will take place in the continental United States. Even more important, they've got to be excited to have Mann shooting a relatively compact gangster flick that's heavier on heists and getaways than brooding meditations on cop/criminal duality (though I should not that I'm working from Mann's 11/4/07 revisions; he's had over three months to go nuts on the tête-à-têtes). For Mann-iacs, there are definite pluses and minuses here: while the details of the bank jobs and shootouts are lovingly explicated down to the last ejected shotgun shell, the character depth is, at present, nowhere near the level of Heat and heavily imbalanced. But the latter deficiency may be intentional; despite his mental acuity (J. Edgar Hoover values intellect over common street smarts), Purvis is a neophyte compared to Vincent Hannah. He's not good enough to catch Dillinger on his own; he'll need ringers - the kinds of hired guns Hoover detests - to bring Dillinger in.

If this lopsided dynamic isn't being addressed in current rewrites (given Mann's burnishing tendencies, there's little doubt he's doing something to the script prior to principal), here's what you'll get: Depp's most unaffected star turn since Blow and Bale doing what Bale does best, which looks something like this...

christianbalesoserious.jpg


I'm not complaining or taking (much of) a shot at Bale. Actors have to take cuts in their wheelhouse from time to time to keep their mechanics sharp. Also, a minimalist magician like Mann could find heretofore unexploited nuances in Bale's impassiveness; there may be a wealth of character lurking in Purvis that can't be expressed on the page.

But let's focus on what Public Enemies gets right: Dillinger and the period through which he briefly, but flamboyantly romped. The script opens with the gangster breaking out of the Indiana State Prison in Michigan City. The operation - which also entails springing Harry Pierpont, Charles Makley, Homer Van Meter and Dillinger's mentor, Walter Dietrich - goes smoothly until the vicious Ed Shouse loses control and bashes the brains out of a random guard. Figuring this is his fate as well, on of the other guards lurches for Van Meter's .45; the result is a bloody, protracted firefight that leaves Dietrich dead (Dillinger thrashes, but stops just short of killing Shouse once the gang is clear of the prison).

Before moving on to Purvis's intro, there's an interlude at a nearby farmhouse where Dillinger and the boys change out of their prison duds and grab a quick bite courtesy of a poverty stricken family. This allows Mann to establish Dillinger's a) generosity (he peels off a $20 bill, which is double what their breakfast might've cost), and b) attractiveness to the opposite sex (the farmer's young daughter quietly pleads with Dillinger to take her with him).

Whether genuine or pure public relations put-on, Dillinger's congeniality stands in sharp contrast to Purvis's joyless demeanor (which reportedly inspired Dick Tracy's no-nonsense profile). And we get our first glimpse of it as the agent is chasing down a fleeing Pretty Boy Floyd through the woods of East Liverpool, Ohio. Purvis orders Floyd to halt, and ducks a hail of Thompson scatter for his trouble. Ultimately, Purvis has no choice but to fire on Floyd, and he puts him down for good; however, before Floyd expires, he gets the opportunity to gurgle out a "rot in hell" to his relentless pursuer. It's difficult to tell how Purvis feels about his handiwork; J. Edgar Hoover, on the other hand, is thrilled, and tasks his rising star to make Dillinger his next dead-or-alive collar.

With this, we cut back to Purvis's quarry, who's swiftly cleaning out the vault of a bank somewhere in Indiana with Van Meter, Pierpont and Makley. Dillinger's efficiency is breathtaking (later in the script, he claims he can get in and out in one-minute-forty), and the minutiae of his execution will surely prove fascinating once Mann gets this sucker up on its feet (I especially like Makley's "git", a pre-Mapquest "triptik" plotted out to the last tenth of a mile). Flush once again, Dillinger descends upon Chicago for some long overdue carousing. He also touches base with the heavy hitters in the Windy City: Alvin Karpis (the apparent mastermind of the Barker gang**), Frank Nitti, Phil D'Andrea, and so on. Karpis is enamored of Dillinger, but the others resent his devil-may-care style; in particular, Nitti and D'Andrea would prefer to keep a low-profile and work within the corrupt system rather than shake it up.

It's during this stay in Chicago that Dillinger lays eyes upon the alleged love of his life: the exotic, half-Native American Bille Frechette (Cotillard). Dillinger may live by a strict set of rules (never work with people who are desperate, never work with people who aren't the best, never work when you're not ready), but he is an absolute sucker for a pretty woman. And Bille, a coat-check girl at the Steuben Club, stomps all over every last one of his libidinal weaknesses. But Dillinger is serious. He sees Bille as the one for the long haul, and he doesn't waste time romancing her. When she protests that she barely knows him, Dillinger lets loose like a verbal Tommy Gun: "I was raised on a farm in Mooresville, Indiana. My ma died when I was three. My daddy beat the hell out of me because he didn't know no better way to raise me. I used to do dumb things, but I'm a lot smarter now. I like baseball, movies, good clothes, fast cars, and you. What else do you need to know?" Soon after, they're a couple.

You can hardly blame Mann for falling in love with the charismatic Dillinger***. After all, he's one of his guys: a stone-cold professional dedicated to doing things the right way with the minimal amount of fuss or collateral damage. Interestingly, Mann's sympathies on the law enforcement side seem to favor Purvis's ringers: Charles Winstead, Clarence Hurt and Gerry Campbell. When the **** goes down (particularly in a ferocious, late second act shootout in Manitowish, Wisconsin involving the erratic "Baby Face" Nelson), it's brutally evident that these are the only guys capable of touching a pro like Dillinger. And Mann respects that. ****, when his time comes, Dillinger respects that.

Thematically, this is overly familiar territory for Mann. If there's a new wrinkle, it's that Dillinger is as committed to a good time as he is to his chosen craft - which he will not renounce even though it's clear he's grown obsolete. "Only thing that's important is where somebody's going," he tells Bille. And when it becomes clear he'll never get there with Bille, he makes peace with the universe under the marquee of the Biograph Theatre (where he just took comfort in the second-rate charms of W.S. Van Dyke's Manhattan Melodrama).

If this isn't Mann's most personal work, who cares? This script ****ing moves. And its unrelenting velocity ensures that - provided Mann does his typically brilliant job behind the camera (with Dante Spinotti, who is 100% confirmed as the film's DP) - Public Enemies will be his biggest box office hit ever. This is Mann's The Untouchables, the one that will keep him working through the next decade with final cut and budgets worthy of his expansive vision. Let the guy have a little fun, and then let him get back to being one of our most essential filmmakers.

Why It Should Be Great: There's somewhere around five heists in the screenplay and two major shootouts (the most involved being the FBI ambush of Dillinger's hideout in Wisconsin). While the action doesn't overwhelm the character development, it's more of an emphasis than it's ever been in a Mann film. If nothing else, this is going to be an enormously entertaining movie.

Why It Might Miss: No chance. Mann's a professional. This is not his Amy Brenneman.

*Mann was also about four years late on the Ali resurgence incited by When We Were Kings and the champ's inspiring torch lighting moment at the 1996 Olympics.

**A script notation quotes an historian who claims Ma Barker "couldn't organize breakfast".

***The screenplay includes this excerpt from a newspaper account of Dillinger's post-apprehension press conference in Chicago: "His diction was amazing - better in many instances than that of his interviewers - his poise no less so... There was no hint of hardness about him, no evidence save in the alert presence of armed policemen that he had spent his formative years in a penitentiary. He had none of the sneer of the criminal... Looking at him for the first time...he rates as the most amazing specimen of his kind ever seen outside of wildly imaginative moving picture."
 
http://www.comingsoon.net/news/movienews.php?id=42259

Wenham and Graham Board Enemies
Source: The Hollywood Reporter
February 22, 2008


David Wenham and Stephen Graham have joined the cast of Universal's Public Enemies, Michael Mann's gangster film starring Johnny Depp and Christian Bale, says The Hollywood Reporter.

An adaptation of Brian Burrough's book "Public Enemies: America's Greatest Crime Wave and the Birth of the FBI, 1933-43," the film centers on the government's attempt to stop John Dillinger and his gang. Depp is playing Dillinger to Bale's famed FBI agent Melvin Purvis.

Wenham is playing Pete Pierpont, a member of Dillinger's crew who has a violent hostility to all authority. British actor Graham will portray Baby Face Nelson.

Also in the cast are Marion Cotillard, Channing Tatum, Giovanni Ribisi and Stephen Dorff.

Shooting begins in March in Chicago.
 
I ****ing hate David Wenham, I hope he has a small role (evn though he had a small role in The Propostion and still managed to **** up every scene he was in...)
 
I just read in one of our local papers that aside from Chicago shooting they're going to be doing some shots around my area here in Indiana in the Crown Point(the prison he escaped from), Gary and Hammond areas as well. So once it starts, or if anyone else lives around here, be prepared to do some detective work. :o
 
Except for Channing Tatum. He sucks. I hope his role gets recast.

His character is killed off almost immediately. That isn't a spoiler - it's how it actually happed. Purvis killed him in a shoot out.
 
I ****ing hate David Wenham, I hope he has a small role (evn though he had a small role in The Propostion and still managed to **** up every scene he was in...)

He was good in "The Lord of the Rings" and "300", and that's all that matters to me.

This movie will kick all kinds of ass. Hopefully it will mean an Oscar for Depp, as well.
 
He was good in "The Lord of the Rings" and "300", and that's all that matters to me.

This movie will kick all kinds of ass. Hopefully it will mean an Oscar for Depp, as well.

and Bale
 

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