Will Johnny Depp rob banks?

A tale of two Johns:
Dillinger and DeppDirector Michael Mann is no stranger to heist films. Johnny Depp is no stranger to playing infamous criminals.

Teaming the two to tell the tale of notorious bank robber John Dillinger makes perfect sense.

Depp and Mann are reportedly in talks to make a movie about the Great Depression-era crime wave, according to the Hollywood Reporter.

The as-yet untitled project would be based on a nonfiction book called “Public Enemies: America's Greatest Crime Wave and the Birth of the FBI, 1933-34.” Something tells me they'll want to whack a few words from that title.

Depp is rumored to have an interest in playing the notorious hood John Dillinger.

Dillinger and his gang were serial bank robbers in the early 1930s. He became something of a populist hero in some circles. A squad of FBI agents and police gunned him down on July 22, 1934., outside a Chicago movie theater. Dillinger was 31.

Incidentally, I used to live in an efficiency apartment at 2214 Marshall Ave., St. Paul. The building was once used by the Dillinger Gang as an arms depot.

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Tour buses used to stop in front of our building and I'd wave at them like a dork.

Although Mann's new film is expected to shoot on-location in Chicago, the rekindled Dillinger buzz might fuel more St. Paul tourism. Who knows?

(Jorge Sosa is a staff writer for the Hutchinson Leader. He can be reached at sosa@hutchinsonleader.com)