"Public Enemies" To Premiere In Chicago

From Crain's Blogs: Taking Names with Shia Kapos

A-list actors Johnny Depp and Christian Bale and "Public Enemies" director Michael Mann are returning to Chicago next week to headline the premiere of their film about John Dillinger.
The hush-hush event, set for June 18 at the AMC River East theater, is by invitation only, and the ticket is a must-have among Chicago's movie-loving elite. A private party at the River East Art Center follows.
Lots of executives are invited, including a few from Washington, D.C., I hear. Billy Marovitz, the real estate executive and former state senator, and his wife, Christie Hefner, former CEO of Playboy, will be there, as will Mesirow Financial's Les Coney, who purchased tickets to the premiere at the recent Victory Gardens Theater fundraising gala.
At least a few invitees won't be able to attend, having already committed to take part in a Burnham Plan Centennial kickoff party at Millennium Park.
"As much as I love Burnham, I'm heartbroken I can't go. I'm a big Johnny Depp fan," says Donna La Pietra, who's helping organize the Burnham party for 300 guests that night. "It's just a busy time of year."
"Public Enemies" will be one of the first big-budget films ever to premiere in Chicago before Los Angeles, which will see its premiere June 23, I hear from L.A. folks on Twitter. (Note, "The Break-Up," the 2006 Vince Vaughn flick that filmed in Chicago, held a red carpet premiere in Chicago, but it followed at least one other big-city premiere by a few days.)
"Public Enemies" opens nationwide July 1.
The Universal Studios movie was filmed in Chicago and suburbs and in Wisconsin and Indiana for months last year.
The crew was in Chicago so long that Mr. Depp became a regular at the Green Mill and along the Gold Coast, where he shopped for himself and his family.
The fact that the movie would premiere here is "huge," said one Chicago film industry exec. "It means the tremendous amount of blood, sweat and tears that the Chicago staff put into this movie is being recognized by the studio," she said.