Public Enemies Co-Producer an EAAer

Oshkosh headquarters was a no-brainer for aviation scenes

April 18, 2008 — When Bryan Carroll, co-producer for the movie, Public Enemies, found out that the Johnny Depp film about John Dillinger was going to be shot in Wisconsin, one location in particular came to mind: Oshkosh! And since he's an EAA member (EAA 599866, which he can recite by heart, by the way), he knew his association is also headquartered here, and that set the creative wheels in motion.

"Oh yeah," he said. "Here's how it happened. When we first started talking about the movie and first started reading the script, I was excited because it had planes in it, and that's my thing - airplanes and air racing. But when I found out we were going to be shooting in Wisconsin, I was like, 'We've got to get up to Oshkosh!'" He told Director Michael Mann as much when they began to scout locations.

Carroll arranged to meet with Mark Leisses, EAA director of event sales, to have Mann tour EAA AirVenture museum and Pioneer Airport. He described EAA's 1929 Ford Tri-Motor as "perfect" for the movie.

"When Michael saw Pioneer Airport, he was hooked," Carroll said. "We walked through the museum and saw some of the great airplanes there like the Fairchild FC-2 and many others, and we envisioned using some of them for background." Carroll said EAA was like a "one-stop shop" for the production crew.

Carroll, who calls himself a pilot-in-training, said he's been a member for a while, (since 1999) but his father has been a member "forever."

"He builds RVs - he's an RV guy," Carroll said. "I haven't had time, I work in this (movie) business."

As a part of the production team, Carroll said he couldn't be more pleased with how things have gone with respect to working with EAA. As a member of EAA, he's proud. "I am very proud to and happy to be a part of this," he said.