JohnnyDepp-Zone.com

One year and one day after it wrapped principal photography in California, Michael Mann’s Public Enemies debuts on the big screen–actually 3,334 big screens across North America–today. A tense and gripping inspection of the criminal career of superstar bank robber John Dillinger, Mann’s Public Enemies also shows us a way of life that was vanishing even as its characters lived it: the film is elegaic in more ways than one. Public Enemies stars Johnny Depp as the doomed gangster, Oscar-winner Marion Cotillard as Billie Frechette, and Christian Bale as Melvin Purvis, the FBI agent heading the Dillinger investigation.

Public Enemies has earned many outstanding reviews from some of the country’s toughest critics. Manohla Dargis, writing in The New York Times, calls Public Enemies “a grave and beautiful work of art” that “looks and plays like no other American gangster film I can think of.” Indeed, to call it a “gangster film” is almost too reductive: Public Enemies is an American tragedy, and it will haunt you long after you leave the theater. –Part-Time Poet

“Johnny Depp made plenty of friends at the Public Enemies premiere tonight,” reports Alison Maloney of The Sun. “The Hollywood superstar made an early appearance on the red carpet and greeted waiting fans outside the Empire Leicester Square with a shy grin and a wave before signing autographs for nearly an hour. Thousands had waited all day to see Johnny and co-star Marion Cotillard.” She’s right–dozens of Zoners were among those thousands of well-wishers, and you can read their encounter (or in some cases, just-missed-the-encounter) stories on the Zone’s Porch forum. To see a photo of Johnny signing autographs in Leicester Square, CLICK HERE.

Speaking of his role as the charismatic bank robber John Dillinger, Johnny told The Telegraph that he found Dillinger an intriguing character: “I had a sort of fascination, not so much that he was a criminal . . . that this guy took up arms against the establishment and he did it with a smile. There was a sort of twinkle in his eye which I find interesting.”

When the reporter asked if he had ever done anything rebellious himself, Johnny replied–no doubt with a twinkle in his own eye–“No, not once in my life.”

He did enjoy filming the gunplay in Public Enemies, though. “I enjoyed firing machine guns,” he told The Telegraph. He added, “I did not actually shoot anyone.”

The Zone thanks Emma for the articles from the British press; you can read more on the News & Views forum. We also thank all the intrepid Zoners who trekked to Leicester Square and have shared their stories with us on the Porch. Well done! –Part-Time Poet