Gov. Jim Doyle's administration said today the state is still negotiating to bring a new film starring actor Johnny Depp to Wisconsin.
Lt. Gov. Barbara Lawton had planned to announce this morning that NBC Universal had committed to Wisconsin as the scene for parts of "Public Enemies," with Depp playing Depression-era bank robber John Dillinger. Earlier news accounts today said parts of the film would definitely be shot here, but the announcement was canceled at the last minute.
Doyle's spokesman Matt Canter said the state Department of Commerce was still working out final details of an incentive package with the company.
"They did authorize us to announce they have scouted locations and they are hopeful to film in Wisconsin," Lawton spokesman Robert Chappell added.
Chandra Miller-Fienen, a top aide to Commerce Secretary Jack Fischer, said the department is still working with the company to finalize the incentive package. She said that depends in part on the film's budget and how much time would be spent in Wisconsin.
"We're in negotiations and we've been talking with them," she said.
Scott Robbe of Film Wisconsin said he expected an update on the film's status in the coming week.
"The process of finalizing plans for what can only be a mega-picture takes time and thoughtful consideration," he said. "We will have major announcements in the very near future but we must respect the protocol of the studio system."
Depp is expected to play Dillinger, the robber whose Midwest crime spree ended when FBI agents shot him to death in Chicago in July 1934.
If it comes to Wisconsin, the film would the first major production here since new tax incentives for the film industry took effect Jan. 1. They have been described as among the best in the nation.
Under the law, a production company qualifies for a tax credit of 25 percent of the wages paid to employees to produce a film, video, electronic game, broadcast advertisement, or television production in the state. Also included are credits for sales tax, construction, wardrobes, clothing and visual effects.
An annual survey by Quigley Publishing Co. put Depp first in 2006 and 2007 in generating box office revenue for theaters. He starred last year in "Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End" and "Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street."
"Public Enemies," directed by Michael Mann, is expected to start filming in March.
The film is a screen adaptation of Bryan Burrough's 2004 book "Public Enemies: America's Greatest Crime Wave and the Birth of the FBI, 1933-34."
It describes the FBI's transformation when confronted with crime sprees of Dillinger, Charles Arthur "Pretty Boy" Floyd and Lester "Baby Face Nelson" Gillis.
Dillinger and his gang pulled off bank robberies across the Midwest and used a north woods Wisconsin lodge as a hideout.
It's unclear where the film might be shot in the state. Business leaders in Baraboo, 30 miles north of Madison, confirmed last month that a Mann representative had been in town.
Merlin Zitzner, CEO of the Baraboo National Bank, said filmmakers were drawn to the city because its courthouse square retains a vintage look, and his bank's exterior hasn't changed much since the 1930s.
"The only thing new is that Mike (Mann) was in town Saturday," Zitzner told The Associated Press Tuesday evening.
He said he met with Mann but had not been told whether he wanted to use the Baraboo bank for filming.
Wisconsin Film Festival director Meg Hamel says that even if Mann and Depp happen to be in the state at the same time as this April's festival, don't expect them to stop by to make an appearance. Location shoots are typically scheduled down to the minute with little downtime.
"It's a piece of clockwork to make a location shoot happen," she says. "It wouldn't happen that anybody would be able to break away. It would be as unlikely as me getting away from the film festival for a day to go have a beer with Johnny Depp."
Hamel says the real key for having a successful film production environment in Wisconsin is having the entire Hollywood production can be filmed in-state, rather than just some location shooting. That means providing infrastructure, such as sound stages, equipment rental, and post-production facilities, and trained crew, such as grips and other technicians.
She says Wisconsin has many talented crew members living with its borders who often have to go out of state to seek work, and that the state needs to maintain connections between those personnel, as well as train students to add to the talent pool.
She says she doesn't know how much of Wisconsin's resources "Public Enemies" will use. But she notes that when the Zach Braff film "The Last Kiss" filmed in Madison in 2005, she was one of only a handful of Wisconsin people hired for the production. Most of the production crew, including assistant directors, cinematographers and accountants, was flown in from California, New York and Chicago.
In addition, while the film featured some brief scenes set at well-known local spots like the UW-Wisconsin Memorial Union Terrace and on Bascom Hill, the bulk of the film was actually shot in Canada.
"To actually bring in production means providing the rest of that infrastructure," Hamel says. "As a state, we'll feel pride in seeing films made here when it's more than a pretty picture that we recognize from the landscape, or when our friends and family who have chosen to become trained as professionals get a chance to work on those productions."
http://www.madison.com/tct/mad/breaking_news/266248Does anyone know if he's progressive? Maybe he'd like to come to Bobfest! B-)
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