Johnny Depp Coming to Crown Point

 
CROWN POINT  (AP) –  City officials are keeping quiet about the possibility that filming for a movie starring Johnny Depp as bank robber John Dillinger could start as early as this weekend.
The city's Board of Public Works and Safety voted to approve an agreement between Mayor David Uran and Universal Studios that runs through March 29.

After months of keeping information about the filming for "Public Enemies" under wraps, Uran still held back when he told the board Universal "might come into the city for filming."

But Lester Johnson of Goshen, a member of the International Alliance of Theatrical and Stage Employees Union Local 476, said he was told filming would begin Monday.

Uran said the agreement says the city is willing and prepared to provide services if a movie "might be coming to our city." Public safety personnel and road closures are examples of services that might be needed.

David Fulton, a "Public Enemies" publicist, said the studio usually hires local law enforcement to supplement existing security. He said people will be allowed to watch the filming as long as they stay outside the barricades, stay quiet and follow directions from security or production assistants.

While city public works director Jay Olson said portions of several streets are scheduled to be closed at some point during the next week, Uran said the courthouse square will remain open.

Olson said Main Street will be closed Saturday morning so the studio can begin to recreate a cobblestone street.

Work crews have spent weeks refurbishing a portion of the Old Sheriff's House and County Jail, from which Dillinger escaped on March 3, 1934, while he awaited trial on charges that he killed a police officer during a Chicago bank robbery.

Fulton wouldn't say whether the stars of the film -- Depp, recent Oscar-winner Marion Cotillard and Christian Bale -- will be in Crown Point for the filming.

The movie is a screen adaptation of Bryan Burrough's 2004 book "Public Enemies: America's Greatest Crime Wave and the Birth of the FBI, 1933-34."

Hundreds of people were in Columbus, Wis., this week to watch filming there. Depp was on the scene on Monday.