‘Public Enemies’ Crew Watching Oshkosh Skies
By Duane Dudek, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
Apr. 12–Johnny Depp may be starring in “Public Enemies,” but the weather could play a role as well.
“That’s the million-dollar question,” said John Urben, director of media services for Oshkosh. “What role will the weather have in delaying shooting?”
It never rains in southern California, which is why they make movies there. But Wisconsin has four seasons, including a harsh winter and a very wet spring.
And in Oshkosh — where filming of “Public Enemies,” in which Depp plays 1930s gangster John Dillinger, was scheduled to start Friday night — there is a chance of more showers, wind gusts and even snow flurries over the next several days.
Filming was scheduled to begin at Pioneer Airport and parts of Wittman Regional Airport on Friday night and continue at least until next Friday, weather permitting, Urben said.
The city has posted a map of street closings and dates of filming on its Web site, www.ci.oshkosh.wi.us
Urben said crews will continue prepping downtown Oshkosh this weekend for filming to begin there Monday. He said the public is invited to observe the filming and take photos from behind the barricades — as they did in Columbus last month — as long as “they are respectful of the movie folks and the job they have to get done.”
A major scene is being filmed at the former First Wisconsin National Bank, now a retail area, at Washington Ave. and Main St. Urben said it will represent a bank Dillinger robbed in Sioux Falls, S.D. Period buildings a few blocks east will stand in for a bank Dillinger robbed in Racine, Urben said. A car chase also is to be filmed in the area.
Workers have been busy transforming the area to reflect the period. Rubber cobblestone coverings have been put over city streets, and a sundial downtown that did not lend itself to the era has been removed, Urben said.
Urben said a 15- to 20-foot-high facade that wraps around the entire block was erected to shield an area downtown that didn’t match the architecture of the period. He said the six-block area where most of the filming was taking place was “the very heart of our downtown” and described it as “the middle of our gathering space.”
“This movie has done more to bring excitement” to downtown development plans than anything in years, he said.
“Public Enemies” is the first major film to shoot in Wisconsin since tax incentives for the film industry took effect Jan. 1.
After filming in Oshkosh, production is expected to move to Milwaukee and Madison. No dates have been finalized for filming in either city.
E-mail: ddudek@journalsentinel.com
Keep up with “Public Enemies” and other developments at Dudek on Film, blogs.jsonline.com/dudek/.
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