Casting Call: Johnny Depp Goes ‘Public’

LOS ANGELES, Calif. (December 6, 2007) – Johnny Depp becomes “Public” enemy number one. Hilary Swank sinks her teeth into “Fangland.” Plus, Rosario Dawson adds some “Pounds” to her profile. It’s all in the latest edition of the Access Hollywood’s Casting Call…

Johnny Depp has signed on to star in the drama “Public Enemies,” Variety reports.

Directed by Michael Mann, the film is set during the great crime wave of 1933-1934, when J.Edgar Hoover was hot on the tail of criminal legends like John Dillinger, Baby Face Nelson and Pretty Boy Floyd.

Depp will play Dillinger, one of the most notorious gangsters of the Depression era.

Shooting will begin March 10 in Chicago.

According to Variety, Depp and Mann agreed to the project just hours before his Hollywood premier of “Sweeney Todd” on Wednesday night.

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Hilary Swank is in talks to star in “Fangland,” the big screen adaptation of the John Marks novel, per Variety.

Swank would play a TV producer who travels to Romania for a one-on-one with a notorious European arms dealer, only to find out he’s really a modern-day Dracula.

Swank will next be seen on the big screen alongside Gerard Butler in the romance drama “P.S. I Love You.”

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Rosario Dawson and Woody Harrelson are in final talks to join Will Smith in “Seven Pounds,” per The Hollywood Reporter.

“Pounds” follows a guilt-ridden man who inadvertently falls in love while trying to kill himself.

Dawson would play the love interest who suffers from a serious heart ailment, while Harrelson would step into the role of a motel attendant who becomes intrigued by his suicidal new guest.

Production is slated to begin in February with a target release of late 2008.

Dawson will next be seen in the thriller “Eagle Eye,” alongside Shia LaBeouf and Michelle Monaghan.

Harrelson, who currently can be seen in the Coen brothers’ drama “No Country for Old Men,” next appears opposite Jennifer Aniston and Steve Zahn in the comedy “Management.”

Smith is primed to storm the box office with his new sci-fi thriller “I Am Legend,” which hits theaters December 14.

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Amanda Peet, Xzibit and Billy Connolly will all go searching for the truth in the new “X-Files” movie, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

Peet and Xzibit will play Mulder and Scully’s FBI colleagues in the supernatural pic, based on the popular former Fox series.

New film is a stand-alone story, not connected to the smash 1998 film, also based off the TV show.

Filming is scheduled to begin later this month in Vancouver. “X-Files” is slated to hit theaters in July 2008.

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Zach Gilford (“Friday Night Lights”) is in final talks to star opposite former “Gilmore Girl” Alexis Bledel in the comedy “The Post-Grad Survival Guide,” per The Hollywood Reporter.

“Post-grad” follows on Ryden Malby (Bledel), who is forced to move back home with her eccentric family after graduating college.

As she moves back home, she struggles to find a job, the meaning of life and Mr. Right.

Michael Keaton, Carol Burnett and Rodrigo Santoro will also co-star in the film.

Filming will begin on Monday in Los Angeles.

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Get ready for some more McLovin!

Christopher Mintz-Plasse, best known as “McLovin” from the summer smash comedy “Superbad,” will re-team with producer Judd Apatow for the new laugher “Year One,” according to The Hollywood Reporter.

The film, set in biblical times, also reunites Mintz-Plasse with “Superbad” co-star Michael Cera, as well as Jack Black.

Oliver Platt, David Cross, Vinnie Jones and Juno Temple are also in final talks to appear in the film.

Platt is in talks to play a platform-shoe-wearing priest in the comedy, while Jones would play a head palace guard named Sargon.

Cross and Temple’s roles are not known.

This will mark the second feature film for Mintz-Plasse, whose acting debut came earlier this year in “Superbad.”