Public Enemies (Michael Mann, 2009)

[Fletch F. Fletch]

Mann interview

The author of the book the film is based on, finishes up his cameo in the film.

[Antoine Doinel]

A whole bunch of set pics.

[flyonthewall2983]

I see the year has gone from '09 to '08 on the topic. Are they hoping for a Oscar season release?

[Jeff]

I see the year has gone from '09 to '08 on the topic. Are they hoping for a Oscar season release?

It should be 2009. I think I've always had it 2008 out of sheer optimism (and it should certainly be finishable by December). I'll change it now. Universal has it set up as their big tentpole release for 4th of July weekend next year, so that's probably not going to change.

[flyonthewall2983]

I can understand the optimism, but what I don't understand is the long wait now that principal photography is finished considering Michael's reputation to get it out as quick as he can. My guess is that it could be his penance from Universal for the whole fiasco around Miami Vice.

[Antoine Doinel]

No, I think now that both Johnny Depp and Christian Bale are both bonafide summer blockbuster draws, Universal is going to try and make as much cash on this as possible. But given the nearly year long wait, expect a lengthy marketing campaign that will probably start later summer or early fall.

[Fletch F. Fletch]

Bale talks briefly about working on the film and with Mann.

Another article on the film.

Trailer as early as December?

[Antoine Doinel]

I'm actually surprised they there isn't going to be a teaser sooner than that. Given the star power involved, I would think the studio would be giving this a longer marketing roll out.

[Fletch F. Fletch]

I'm actually surprised they there isn't going to be a teaser sooner than that. Given the star power involved, I would think the studio would be giving this a longer marketing roll out.

Yeah, but considering the kind of dictatorial control Mann has over the editing process, it doesn't surprise me.

[Antoine Doinel]

A couple new pics.

[TedW]

I can understand the optimism, but what I don't understand is the long wait now that principal photography is finished considering Michael's reputation to get it out as quick as he can. My guess is that it could be his penance from Universal for the whole fiasco around Miami Vice.

Michael Mann doesn't have that reputation and I'm not sure where you got that. The movie comes out in the summer and he is cutting it now.

[Svevan]

On Wednesday there was a rough cut screening in Portland, FWIW. Seems to me like it's really early to do a screening.

[TedW]

Seems to me like it's really early to do a screening.

Why?

[Finch]

Easily my most anticipated film of 2009 - The Insider is one of the best American films of the 1990s or any period for that matter and I also rate Heat and Last of the Mohicans highly. And I love classical gangster films with Cagney, Bogart, Robinson and Raft so if there's a 2009 release that I'm really praying for it not to suck, it's this one. Encouragingly, word from the Portland screening has been pretty positive.

[Antoine Doinel]

An insanely huge gallery of behind the scenes photos.

[Antoine Doinel]

Here's the first official poster.

[foggy eyes]

First (HD) trailer is up.

If this proves to be as good as Miami Vice I'm going to be very happy indeed.

[Highway 61]

Depp was the only thing about the trailer that impressed me. Maybe my expectations were too high for the Mann/Spinotti reunion. I'll still be seeing it opening day nevertheless.

[Antoine Doinel]

I have to agree with Highway 61. Depp looks like he's having a ball, but everything else failed to excite the way this story should. The cinematography looks almost too good. The uber-crisp HD seems to be a weird fit for a period piece about a bank robber in the Depression-era midwest. Everything looks far too clean. Where's the grit and grime?

[John Cope]

It looks like Mann's Crime Story meets Malick's Badlands.

[Finch]

Couldn't agree more about this looking far too clean for a period piece but I'm still hopeful that this is not another Road To Perdition with beautiful visuals but no soul at its core. Terrible song choices but seeing that Eliott Goldenthal is going to provide the score proper made me smile; his soundtracks for Alien 3 and Interview with a Vampire were excellent. Wish this was opening in April instead when I'll be visiting my partner in Oregon.

[flyonthewall2983]

The uber-crisp HD seems to be a weird fit for a period piece about a bank robber in the Depression-era midwest. Everything looks far too clean. Where's the grit and grime?

I think what Michael is trying to achieve with that, is actually something very similar that he did with Ali. And that is to try and show this period through very modern eyes. Nearly everything in Ali had a very modern touch to it, despite being 60's and 70's. Most of the music were re-recorded versions of songs around that time (the songs in the beginning and the live version of "A Change Is Gonna Come" when Malcolm X is shot). I'm not sure if I'm conveying this properly, but I think he's taken that same approach here.

[arsonfilms]

I understand the reasons for wanting to shoot on video, but the technology isn't there yet for a video aesthetic to seem appropriate on a period piece. Shots in broad daylight looked crisp and clear, but anything at night looked about two notches above Blair Witch. Mann can pull that stuff off on Collateral and maybe even Miami Vice, but here it just looks stupid.

[Antoine Doinel]

I understand the reasons for wanting to shoot on video, but the technology isn't there yet for a video aesthetic to seem appropriate on a period piece. Shots in broad daylight looked crisp and clear, but anything at night looked about two notches above Blair Witch. Mann can pull that stuff off on Collateral and maybe even Miami Vice, but here it just looks stupid.

Well, as David Fincher proved amply with Zodiac, a period piece can be shot in HD, look phenomenal and be true to the era. And fly, if Mann is going for a period piece laced with a touch of the modern, I just hope the end result isn't as jarring as what we've seen in the trailer.

[arsonfilms]

I understand the reasons for wanting to shoot on video, but the technology isn't there yet for a video aesthetic to seem appropriate on a period piece. Shots in broad daylight looked crisp and clear, but anything at night looked about two notches above Blair Witch. Mann can pull that stuff off on Collateral and maybe even Miami Vice, but here it just looks stupid.

Well, as David Fincher proved amply with Zodiac, a period piece can be shot in HD, look phenomenal and be true to the era. And fly, if Mann is going for a period piece laced with a touch of the modern, I just hope the end result isn't as jarring as what we've seen in the trailer.

What Fincher accomplished with Zodiac, and indeed Benjamin Button, is not a video aesthetic. It is possible to make video look pretty close to film, I will certainly grant, but that isn't what I'm talking about. Mann uses video in a way that LOOKS like video, not like film. The aesthetic he's working in isn't at all comparable to Fincher's recent work on similar formats.