The already beginning to impress cast of Michael Mann’s “Public Enemies” got even more impressive today with the addition of five fine actors.
The film, which is being headlined by Johnny Depp and Christian Bale, added Marion Cotillard, Channing Tatum, Giovanni Ribisi, Stephen Dorff, and Jason Clarke (no, that’s not me) to the cast.
With an Oscar nomination for her starring role in “La Vie En Rose,” Marion Cotillard is the talk of the town at the moment. Moving from an Oscar nominated film to a Michael Mann directed film starring two of Hollywood’s hottest actors is always a good move.
Channing Tatum nabs his second huge role of the week (and it’s only the first of the week) by landing a role in this film. He was also cast as Duke in the Stephen Sommers directed “G.I. Joe” movie. Tatum isn’t yet a household name but he’s a rising star that should make quite a name for himself if he continues to choose his roles wisely.
“Public Enemies” is set during the crime wave of 1933-34 when the government’s attempts to stop Depression era criminal legends such as John Dillilnger, Baby Face Nelson and Pretty Boy Floyd transformed J. Edgar Hoover’s FBI into the country’s first federal police force. Mann authored the script, based on the 2004 novel by Bryan Burrough
The four guys who have joined the cast will all be playing members of Dillinger’s gang. Channing Tatum is Charles Arthur “Pretty Boy” Floyd, Ribisi will be playing Alvin “Creepy” Karpis, Dorff will be Homer “Wayne” Van Meter, and Clarke is John “Red” Hamilton. Those four were part of a Dillinger gang that robbed banks all over the Midwest during the Depression. Cotillard will play Billie French, Dillinger’s main squeeze.
Production on “Public Enemies” is set to begin in Chicago on March 10, 2008.
