He's toiled in the chocolate factory as Willy Wonka and sailed the high seas as Capt. Jack Sparrow, but will Johnny Depp soon patrol the seedy bank-robbing underground in Aurora as John Dillinger?
City officials are keeping their fingers crossed.
Paramount Theatre Executive Director Diana Martinez says four-time Oscar-nominated film director Michael Mann and several of his associates spent much of Wednesday examining the nearly 80-year-old structure for "historical accuracy."
Mann, she said, expressed interest in using the Paramount in his planned 2009 film titled "Public Enemies," set to star Johnny Depp and Christian Bale.
"It's so exciting," Martinez said. "I feel really good that they'll be back."
Depp is signed on to play notorious bank robber John Dillinger in the film adapted from Bryan Burrough's book, "Public Enemies: America's Greatest Crime Wave and the Birth of the FBI, 1933-34."
"They expressed a lot of interest in using the theater as the backdrop where Dillinger was killed," Martinez said Thursday. "The real theater was the Biograph in Lincoln Park, but it's since been updated. The Paramount, though updated, remains historically accurate, so 'Yay!' for us."
She said Mann and his accompanying art directors also commented many times how much they "like the look" of the city's downtown area.
Mayor Tom Weisner said seeing Depp strolling down the streets of downtown was a "pretty exciting prospect" for the Paramount, the city and his wife, Marilyn.
"It certainly speaks well of our beautiful city and the job they have done preserving the Paramount," he said. "Johnny Depp coming here would be great for Aurora. My only concern is that I will have a hard time keeping (Marilyn) at least 400 feet away from him at all times."
Martinez said the director did not give her a timetable for filming, but the Web site www.imdb.com lists the start date as March 10.
If Aurora is chosen as a location, Weisner said he expects the city will use the opportunity as a chance to advertise many more examples of its historic architecture.
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