Depp's happy to be public enemy number one
July 22, 1934. After a whirlwind 13 months as America's Public Enemy Number One, bank robber extraordinaire John Dillinger exits from Chicago's Biograph Theater after watching Manhattan Melodrama, a gangster thriller starring Clark Gable.
Minutes later he lies face-down in a pool of his own blood, felled by a murderous fusillade of fire from a gang of FBI "G-Men" commanded by tenacious Special Agent Melvin Purvis.
Dillinger's reign as the Gentleman Bandit is over, but his legend has only just begun.
More than eight decades after 31-year-old Dillinger bit the dust, his reputation as the United States' best-known criminal mastermind continues to grow. In Public Enemies he is played by 46-year-old Johnny Depp, an actor who confesses to being fascinated by a man whose exploits made him a legend in his own brief lifetime.
With his delicately boyish features and doe-eyed handsomeness, Depp might initially seem to be an odd choice to play the moustachioed convict with the lop-sided grin. Yet Depp was born less than 160 miles from Dillinger's Mooresville, Indiana home.
"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," says Depp who, with typical rigor, immersed himself in the character.
"But looking back on that initial interest in Dillinger and the fact that it's carried through for the majority of my life, it was his character. It was who he was as a man – back at a time when men were really men. He was, for good or ill, exactly who he was, without any compromise whatsoever."
Depp obviously buys into the concept of Dillinger the charmer – the man who would hand back money to bank customers and be careful not to swear in front of women. But he is careful not to present some form of hero-worshipping caricature.
As director Michael Mann points out, "deep in the core of Johnny there's a toughness. 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."
Mann, like his contemporary Oliver Stone, poured realism into the film. He took his cast (including Depp and co-leading man Christian Bale, playing FBI poster boy Purvis) to several of Dillinger's real-life '30s hang-outs, not least Indiana's Lake County Jail and the Biograph where he met his death.
"Everywhere you looked, it was 1934," says Depp admiringly.
"It was pretty incredible to be standing in front of the Biograph Theater. As far as you could see, it was 1934: from the roads to the building storefronts to the marquee lights. Every detail was accounted for. I salute Michael for that. His attention to detail is unparalleled."
Depp found his proximity to the ghost of Dillinger both an eerie experience and a fundamental one. Getting under Dillinger's skin was vital for two reasons: knowing the man's mind and ridding himself of a fascinating, mythic figure of American folklore. Making the movie was a cathartic experience.
"I think Dillinger had some idea of what he was doing. I believe he had found himself and was at peace with the fact that it wasn't going to be a very long ride... but it was going to be a significant ride," affirms Depp.
"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."
A cerebral actor who has carved a niche for himself in oddball, offbeat roles, Depp nonetheless relished the action-packed nature of the Public Enemies script. Mann's depiction of the various robberies, break-outs and shoot-outs allowed the majority of the cast to revel in an orgy of gunplay.
Depp smiles the smile of a Thirties gangster, and remembers.
"For the most part, I was carrying a 1921 Thompson sub-machine gun and a couple of .45s in the film. I had a lot of preparation. I've been shooting guns since I was about five or six, so I had a pretty strong advantage in that area.
"Primarily, I was firing the Thompson and the .45s."
He pauses, then adds: "When you've got a beast like that strapped to you and you're emptying magazines – a 50-round drum – it's a good feeling."
Doubtless John Dillinger – dazzling heist merchant, daring escape artist and dapper ladies' man – would agree.
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