Cinema Science

Christian Bale is in negotiations to join Johnny Depp in the Michael Mann-directed Depression-era crime drama Public Enemies. The story, an adaptation of Brian Burrough's book Public Enemies: America's Greatest Crime Wave and the Birth of the FBI, 1933-43, is about the U.S. government's attempt to stop notorious criminals John Dillinger, Baby Face Nelson, and Pretty Boy Floyd. Depp is playing Dillinger, and Bale is in talks to play Melvin Purvis, the FBI Agent who hunted Dillinger. Mann wrote the script. Production is scheduled to begin later this winter.