An Admirers' Site Dedicated to Johnny Depp and His Work
Yes folks, Johnny is there at the race track in Santa Anita. There are over 100 film workers, cast ,extras and whatnot at the track today. Jerry has been spotted and someone also thought they saw Johnny take a quick walk from one trailer to the next. We have heard from a employee at the park that they are scheduled to be there for the whole night and tomorrow as well. So who knows? There may be more of Johnny yet to see…
Preparations are underway at Santa Anita Park in Arcadia (north of LA near Pasadena) for shooting. Santa Anita will be standing in for a dog track in Florida. As we previously stated. All the alterations have been inside the park since there seems to be no need for exterior shots.
The grandstand building is like an island surrounded by miles of surface parking lots, and the parking lots are surrounded by tall chain link AND thick hedges. Base camp is inside one the many secure lots. The trailers are all lined up and it is a sea of activity.
The movie is bonded to have its principal photography completed by midnight June 30th. That means the shooting must be complete or there could be stiff penalties to follow.. With the upcoming date for the incertain actors strike looming. They must have the film complete by then.
Credit to the Dining Diva Site.
The West Loop was jumpin’ Friday night as the cast and crew of the John Dillinger bio “Public Enemies” hit Randolph Street hot spot Bon V for the official wrap party, as exclusively reported by 312 Dining Diva. No media were allowed into this private event.
So where was Johnny? He was still having dinner in the private dining room of Gibsons Steakhouse,
BY PHILIP POTEMPA
ppotempa@nwitimes.com
219.852.4327 | Saturday, June 28, 2008
It’s official.
The final scenes for director Michael Mann’s film “Public Enemies” starring Johnny Depp as John Dillinger are now in the can and the film is entirely shot and finished.
As film insiders have said all along, this $80-million flick by Universal Studios was one of the largest productions to hit the Chicago area and Northwest Indiana in recent years.
And since this movie, about the Feds trying to take down notorious American gangsters Dillinger, Baby Face Nelson and Pretty Boy Floyd during a booming crime wave in the 1930s, required a slew of extras, it’s understandable how the buzz surrounding the project continued to find even greater interest as the filming progressed since the first day of shooting March 17 up in Madison, Wis., before the cast and crew made their way to Crown Point to shoot for the full week following Easter Sunday.
There’s also no arguing that it was an aggressive project, to say the least, considering it was only scheduled for 69 shooting days, according to Depp’s contract. Universal Pictures is set to open the film in theaters in July 2009.
The final hurrah for the film before everyone, including Depp, packs up and heads out of town, was Friday night’s wrap party, thrown by Mann.
The party was held from 10 p.m. to 2 a.m. at the tres chic Bon V restaurant, at 1100 Randolph St. in the Windy City’s West Loop. The name of the restaurant, which hints at the French’s way of saying “the good life,” pretty much captures the surrounding atmosphere of this 7,500-square-foot spacious playground, outfitted with ultra elegant chandeliers and owned by Casey Urlacher, brother of Chicago Bear Brian Urlacher.
Much of the chatter had to do with the final days of filming this week, including the very long marathon shoot from Wednesday, at a section of Wells Street near Lincoln Avenue, which was transformed into 1930s New Orleans.
No Depp for that particular scene, but it did include actors Billy Crudup as FBI head honcho J. Edgar Hoover and Giovanni Ribisi as Alvin “Creepy” Karpis.
Filming began early in the day and lasted well past 10 p.m.
The Times own Deputy Executive Editor Don Asher as well as our automotive columnist Jim Jackson, business writer Keith Benham and features correspondent Robert Earnshaw all shot scenes in the film during that busy Wednesday.
Even though the scenes I shot were filmed months earlier, I was fortunate to join Asher and his wife Donna at Friday night’s cast party, with my assigning editor Crista Zivanovic as my own guest to help me keep tabs on the faces and happenings around me. I’ll share more details in Tuesday’s column.
Unfortunately, not everyone made the invite list for last night’s celebration.
A memo sent out June 18 to departments from the production office explained the invite list dilemma:
To all Department Heads:
The Public Enemies Wrap Party is quickly approaching and the Production Office needs to make final arrangements on the guest list.
I added some pics from yesterday, the last week, and May 19th, thanks to such wonderful people as Becky, Jessy and bierz. I’ll add some more the weekend, so make sure to re-check.
A preview:
It is officially done and wrapped in Chicago! There was a feeling of joy and relief among the crew and Johnny walked all around the set talking and hugging the crew and others on the set. He of course has been out every evening meeting the crowd this week, the final week. He hugged and shook hands with everyone in the lines. The crowds were large for the last day but of course Johnny took time to greet everyone.
Johnny gave a small memento to the crew and cast. A small wooden gun in a pouch, both signed and messaged. Many of you have had the chance to spend some time with Johnny during these days of filming and this is the first time in all we can remember that Johnny has put himself out there for all to enjoy at this level.
We all certainly want to thanks Johnny for this time he has spent after long hard days of work to come out to give us all a change to see him.
We here at JDorg would also like to thank Jerry and Johnny’s other bodyguards and assistants for the long hours they also have spent in the midst of the fans. It is a very difficult job that they do and without them there for Johnny NONE of this would have been possible. We appreciate you Jerry and all your dedication in keeping Johnny safe and secure!
What a wonderful thing we have experienced these past months and we will miss seeing all the wonderful photos from you all. We do have many more photos coming in this weekend and we will continue to post them as they come in.
We want to thank all of you that have given us great memories and stories in the site and boards about meeting Johnny and also those that have shared elsewhere for us to read and enjoy.
This filming will surely be a hisotrical moment for Johnnys career in the mind of the fans and admirers that love him!
There is an autographed script up for auction to benefit Make a wish. here is the link to see it.
http://www.charity2charity.com/auction_items/194.html
Anne crowd
By Gary Mays
gmays@daily-journal.com
815-937-3359
It was about half past 10 when Johnny Depp finally appeared before an adoring, patient crowd, who had waited hours to see the movie star outside St. Anne High School. Having changed out of his Dillinger-era get-up, Depp walked casually from behind the lot of movie trailers wearing an orange ?Gonzo? T-shirt and funky head sock.
Depp was in the area Thursday to film scenes for the movie, ?Public Enemies,? a Depression-era gangster film slated for a July 2009 release. In it, Depp plays notorious criminal, John Dillinger.
But few people cared about the film, they just wanted to meet the man. Once word got out that Depp was outside his trailer, the refrain came, ?We love you, Johnny.? And with each shout or blown kiss, the actor smiled appreciatively, making every effort to acknowledge fans with a wave or a nod. And the crowd ate it up. Young and old, everyone was a Depp fan in St. Anne on Thursday.
Depp a big hit with fans in St.Anne
The 45-year-old star had seen the gathering crowd ? easily larger than the town?s population ? waiting for him throughout the hot summer day, as he went back and forth to the set, in a modified old farm house just outside of town.
?His hands were so soft,? said 21-year-old Christy Craft, of Bradley, one of many who touched the actor as he reached out to just about everyone he could along a long, but peaceful rope line. With security surrounding him, Depp worked the line with a grin, escorted by his own security contingent; and plenty of deputies from the Kankakee County Sheriff’s Department ? led for much of the way by shift commander Lt. Bill Carnahan.
After a still smiling Depp finally sped off in an SUV, Carnahan sheepishly admitted to also grabbing Depp?s hand ? but just to guide the actor along, as scores of cameras flashed rapid-fire in his face.
?He did very well with that crowd, and everyone was polite and supportive of him, so that helped,? said Carnahan. ?He seemed to enjoy meeting all of them and was very nice.
Depp, who has played everything from a swashbuckling pirate to journalist Hunter S. Thompson ? was here filming because his character, infamous mobster Dillinger was part of a mob known to frequent the rural Illinois-Indiana border, among other haunts, before being gunned down outside Chicago?s Biograph Theater on July 22, 1934.
Patrick Rios and his brother, Esainios, were among the many St. Anne kids who spent their summer day cruising around looking for movie actors and extras. Every once in a while a movie crew van or an old Packard from the set would role down the street, sans license plates, and park behind the high school were the ?Public Enemies? crew had set up camp.
?That’s got to be the whole town,?
BY MOLLY WOULFE
CHICAGO SCENE | Friday, April 25, 2008 | 1 comment(s)
Johnny Depp, filming “Public Enemies” this week at a Northern Wisconsin resort, will return to Chicago next month, insiders say. The thrice-nominated Oscar nominee will resume shooting May 9 downtown.
The John Dillinger-come-lately wraps the Depression-era saga here June 15.
Director Michael Mann, one for historical accuracy, is currently re-creating the shootout at the Little Bohemia Lodge in Manitowish Waters, where the FBI cornered the outlaw after he escaped from Lake County Jail. Dillinger eluded capture again, prompting the local joke, “Dillinger only left because he had to.”
A scoop: Billy Crudup (“Almost Famous”) has been cast as J. Edgar Hoover.
Re[orted from the Sun times in Chicago:
I spy …
Actor Johnny “Public Enemies” Depp spotted checking out the old black-and-white photographs at Gene & Georgetti’s last week while dining with film producer Jerry “Top Gun” Bruckheimer. “It was very cool to meet Captain Jack Sparrow,” said restaurant spokeswoman Michelle Durpetti, who said Depp shook hands with the entire staff before leaving at 2 a.m. . . . White Sox players Jermaine Dye and Octavia Dotel at the Underground Saturday night with Chicago Cubs Alfonso Soriano and Ronny Cedeno . . . The Doobie Brothers were seen enjoying Brick Chicken in the bar at Carmine’s Thursday night