Variety reports that Johnny Depp and director Michael Mann will team up for "Public Enemies," a project being setup at Universal. Shooting begins March 10 in Chicago.

The film tells of the beginnings of J. Edgar Hoover's FBI force and is set during the crime wave of 1933 and 1934, when the government attempted to stop Depression-era criminals such as John Dillinger, Baby Face Nelson and Pretty Boy Floyd. Depp will play John Dillinger, one of the most famous gangsters of the era.

Mann adapted the screenplay based on the book by Bryan Burrough.