The Killing of Johnny Depp’s John Dillinger

Via GreenCine Daily, we came across a very interesting blog by Bryan Burrough. He's a writer for Vanity Fair who landed a bit part as a reporter in Public Enemies, the Michael Mann-directed gangster movie that's been filming in the area. He blogs about observing the shooting of the Big Scene, namely, John Dillinger falling in a hail of bullets in the alley outside the Biograph:

It was just like that hot night in July 1934. There, outside the theatre, stood Christian Bale as Melvin Purvis, lighting a cigar to let the surrounding agents know Dillinger was coming out. In twos and threes, the extras filing began out of the theatre. Then, flanked by actresses playing the brothel owner Ana Sage and Dillinger’s girl for the night, Polly Hamilton, came Johnny Depp. He wore the same clothes Dillinger had worn, light pants, a straw boater, a clean white shirt. He emerged from the theatre, turned to his left, then meandered with the crowd maybe thirty feet down the sidewalk, where the FBI, in the person of the actor Steven Lang, portraying Agent Charles Winstead, was waiting.

Later, "as the first rays of dawn appeared over Lake Michigan," Mann screens the edited first scene of the movie for some of the crew, commandeering a DVD projector at a nearby sports bar (one on Lincoln perhaps?) Yesterday in River North we noticed a fleet of 1930's vintage autos parked on the street. Could these have been for some pickup shots? Public Enemies is due to be released next July.

Image by jake.merten. There is also an excellent set of photos here.