Written by Nicole Pedersen

The cast for Michael Mann’s upcoming crime drama “Public Enemies” just keeps getting better. The noir-style film detailing the American crime wave of the 1930’s already boasts Johnny Depp as beautiful bank robber John Dillinger and Christian Bale as lawman Melvin Purvis, now Billy Crudup (“Almost Famous”, “Jesus’ Son”) has signed on to play FBI legend J. Edgar Hoover.Crudup is a perfect choice for the, shall we say, ‘nuanced’ role of Hoover… We have seen him do buttoned-down period work in “The Good Shepherd” and we have also seen him cross-dress his ass off in “Stage Beauty.” Other cast members for “Public Enemies” include Giovanni Ribisi, Rory Cochrane and America-bashing Oscar winner Marion Cotilliard (I’m sure she didn’t mean it). Mann is filming now for a release in 2009. I happen to be a BIG fan of his crime epic “Heat,” and even if I found the more recent “Miami Vice” a little hard to follow at times, I’m pretty psyched to see how the classic story of FBI versus ‘Public Enemy Number One’ will play out in the hands of its cast. Fit Billy Crudup for his garters here. J. Edgar Hoover