MILWAUKEE - The director of the Johnny Depp movie "Public Enemies" said he would have shot fewer scenes in Wisconsin if there were no tax incentives.
Director Michael Mann said he "aggressively looked to shoot as much stuff in Wisconsin as possible" because of the incentives.
He was in Wisconsin for six weeks, but without the incentives it could have been one week, he said.
The Chicago native and alumni of the University of Wisconsin-Madison made the comments to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel in Chicago Friday, the night before journalists screened the movie. Depp and Mann were there along with the movie's other stars Marion Cotillard and Christian Bale.
The film opens nationally July 1. There are fundraising screenings for the movie in Madison, Oshkosh and the Milwaukee area June 30.
Gov. Jim Doyle, who originally supported the current law that went into effect Jan 1. 2008, proposed scrapping it and replacing it with a $500,000 annual grant program. He felt the current program, with no limits on tax rebates and credits, was too rich given the state's projected $5 billion budget shortfall.
The Commerce Department cited the movie many times in its arguments against the program since it received $4.6 million in tax rebates and credits but only generated $5 million in economic activity.
The state Assembly has replaced the program with a more conservative one that limits how much money can be given for qualifying projects. The state Senate and Doyle still have to agree to the changes.
Depp portrays bank robber John Dillinger, whose crime spree ended when FBI agents shot him to death in Chicago in 1934.
A stickler for historical accuracy in his films, Mann said he would not have shot scenes that take place at Little Bohemia in Manitowish Waters anywhere but at the actual location. That's the site of an infamous shootout between the FBI and Dillinger.
"First of all, I was surprised it was still there," Mann said. "Second, I was surprised it hadn't been changed. And third, I was joyous they allowed us to shoot there."
Mann said the production actually shot up the lodge during filming and later restored it. Shooting in the actual location, "informs the work in a huge way. The physical place is a powerful, powerful tool," he said.
He said tax incentives have a similar intangible effect and he called efforts to reduce or eliminate them "short-sighted."
by he associated press
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