Johnny Depp and Christian Bale are co-starring in Public Enemies, a film directed by Michael Mann, who also directed the similarly-themed Heat with Al Pacino and Robert DeNiro. Hot damn.

Public Enemies is the July 2009 adaptation of Public Enemies: America’s Greatest Crime Wave and the Birth of the FBI, 1933–34, a book written by Bryan Burrough, who has reportedly heaped praises upon the film’s screenplay. This Depression-era action-thriller follows FBI agent Melvin Purvis (Bale) as he pursues legendary outlaw John Dillinger (Depp), who is so bloody charismatic and folk-heroesque that one might refer to him in the sense of Salvatore Guiliano, the so-called “gentleman bandit” of Sicily. That wouldn’t be the first time that Guiliano’s story was spoken of in a comparative light to certain American gangsters, but that’s a whole other topic altogether.

In addition to Depp and Bale, Public Enemies also features Giovanni Ribisi, Stephen Dorff, Billy Crudup as (J. Edgar Hoover), and Marion Cotillard (as Dillinger’s girlfriend). So, this film sounds rather promising, to say the very least. If nothing else, it will be something of a novelty to see Depp in something other than yet another Tim Burton-styled incarnation or dressed up like a pirate and acting like a salt-water swilling Freddie Mercury. As for Bale, I certainly don’t mind him peeling off the Batsuit, if you know what I’m saying. And I think you do.

Check out the film stills below, with more on the next page as well.

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