Cool movie connection

The above photo is from the FDL Reporter.  It seems Johnny Depp’s movie “Public Enemies” will have a Fond du Lac connection.

In a jaunty cap, J.R. Julka looked the part.

The Fond du Lac man and his 1931 Ford Model A coupe were employed as extras last week during Universal Studios production of the film “Public Enemies” starring Johnny Depp as bank robber John Dillinger.

Scenes were shot in the small city of Columbus, about 40 miles from Fond du Lac, because of the abundance of century-old buildings along two streets that intersect, Julka explained.

“They transformed the entire downtown, put up all new (old) storefronts from the era, signage, stuff in windows, you name it,” he said.

Lounging in his car parked along fake cobblestone streets, Julka said he was part of a jailbreak scene in which Depp, as Dillinger, brandished a gun whittled out of wood. In the filming of a robbery scene, Julka is driving the Model A back and forth through an intersection.

“Amazing,” he called the experience. “Just to watch how comprehensive and involved all the planning is — everything from food to details of the background shots to the bum lying on the street. It all came together like clockwork.”

The movie describes the FBI’s transformation when confronted with crime sprees by bank robbers John Dillinger, Charles Arthur “Pretty Boy” Floyd and Lester “Baby Face Nelson” Gillis. Dillinger escaped the heavily guarded Crown Point, Ind., jail on March 3, 1934, while he awaited trial on charges that he killed a police officer during a Chicago bank robbery.

Dillinger then drove away in the sheriff’s new car, at one point using a Northwoods Wisconsin lodge as a hideout. A few months later, federal agents fatally shot him outside a Chicago theater.

A 5 a.m. call time brought Julka and the other drivers with vintage cars onto the set. An escort led them from a leased warehouse called the picture car garage.

His wardrobe was a cap, a shirt and overcoat.

Awesome man! Great reason to see the movie when it comes out.