We weren’t’ very keen on this project when it was first announced even though the lead cast was Johnny Depp, Christian Bale and Marion Cotillard. You’d have to forgive our foolishness and blame our semi-disinterest on Michael Mann’s “Miami Vice,” a piss poor film so bad we actually resented it.
It made us believe Mann hadn’t done good work in a while, but the truth is he really only had that one misfire in recent years (“Ali,” and “Collateral,” were both quite good; Tom Cruise was remarkably good in the latter, ppl seem to forget this role). Then we checked out the rest of the “Public Enemies” cast (Giovanni Ribisi, Billy Crudup, Lily Taylor), started seeing some great pictures and were basically sold. Johnny Depp recently talked to EW about the film in depth. Some new photos have obviously been making the rounds too. Depp plays the ambiguous “villain” (Dillinger), Bale plays the Fed chasing after him (Melvin Purvis) in the 1930s-set film (we say ambiguous because the film sounds like it’s not black and white on its morality).
If we were feeling like bigger assholes, we’d swear this Depp quote was a euphemism for “Michael Mann is an anal twat,” and put it in the headline, but we’ll be nice for now. Either way, the director sounds ur-text meticulous (these quotes don’t appear to be online for some reason, btw).
“[Mann is about] the details of the details of the details [laughs]. They should invent a word to describe it because it’s not just details, it teeters on microscopic obsession with ever molecule of every moment. Which is admirable, you know? You got to salute that.’
For Mann, he says Christian Bale is obsessive. “Christian works in a totally different way. He becomes the character so totally that he’s that person 24 hours a day, seven days a week. The accent, everything” (does that mean he spoke in the Dark Knight growl 24-7 too? No wonder he slapped a family member).
The badboy Johnny Depp of course has an affinity for those he also perceives as badboys. “‘Some people might disagree, but I think [Dillinger] was a real-life Robin Hood. I mean, the guy wasn’t completely altruistic, but he went out of his way not to kill anybody. He definitely gave a lot of that money away. I love the guy.”
More Depp on Mann’s acute perfectionism. When asked about his favorite scene to shoot, Depp says, “How often do you get to stand on the running board of an old 1932 Buick blasting a 50-round clip from a Tommy submachine gun? When do you get to do that without getting in trouble? And With Michael, you do it again and again and again.”
“Public Enemies” hits theater July 1, 2009 and should be a strong alternative to the tent pole nonsense most mainstream bloggers are looking forward to.