New Public Enemies Featurette

johnny depp as john dillenger in public enemies

A new featurette for Michael Mann’s upcoming Depression-era crime-drama, Public Enemies, debuted this week (inappropriately enough) during the 2009 MTV Movie Awards.

The featurette…um, features Public Enemies stars Christian Bale and Johnny Depp, as well as Mann himself, all discussing the era of The Great Depression and John Dillinger’s status as less of a criminal than a bonafide American celebrity. Most of the footage is lifted right from the Public Enemies trailer, but there are some new clips and the interviews with cast and director are pretty interesting.

Check out the behind-the-scenes featurette for Public Enemies:

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I have nothing less than supreme confidence that this film is going to ROCK. I’m already a pretty big Michael Mann fan (it rhymes so you know it’s real) and I even like his less-appreciated films, such as Miami Vice (that’s right, I said I like Miami Vice. Deal with it). Do I need to even argue that Johnny Depp and Christian Bale under one marquee is an awesome thing? I would think that by now it would be universally acknowledged that Public Enemies has the best pairing of quality actors since Bale and Heath Ledger faced off in The Dark Knight last summer.

For anyone who has a hard time distinguishing good films from bad ones: just listen to what Bale, Depp and Mann talk about in that video – their shared understanding of what John Dillinger meant for America at the time of The Great Depression, as well as the kind of icon he’s become today. These are serious filmmakers who grab hold of their films with both hands – much to the benefit of us, the audience. Can’t wait for the mindless summer season to get an injection of Oscar-level quality.

Public Enemies steals into theaters on July 1, 2009. Let us know what you thought of the featurette.

Source: First Showing