Depp as Dillinger?

Johnny Depp has a gap in his schedule after his project SHANTARAM fell apart due to the strike. Michael Mann also has a gap in his schedule after his project EDWIN A. SALT fell apart due to the strike. So it's a no-brainer to get these two together for their first project. Mann has been looking at adapting Brian Burrough's "Public Enemies: America's Greatest Crime Wave and the Birth of the FBI, 1933-34" with Leonardo DiCaprio but Leo backed out to star in SHUTTER ISLAND for Martin Scorsese. Now Mann is in talks with Depp step in for Leo with Depp starring as notorious robber John Dillinger. The book follows Dillinger, Bonnie and Clyde, Baby Face Nelson, Pretty Boy Floyd and other notorious criminals from the 1930s and their history with the FBI. Universal is hoping to get everyone together on the same page to get filming going in March, one month after Depp was ready to begin shooting SHANTARAM.

Extra Tidbit: Another of Depp's projects, THE RUM DIARIES, was also put on hold.