Johnny Depp and Christian Bale star in the crime-drama Public Enemies which is based on the life of the notorious gangster John Dillinger and the FBI agent, Melvin Purvis, who is credited with catching the thief during the 1930s. The film also comes from Bryan Burrough's non-fiction book, Public Enemies: America's Greatest Crime Wave and the Birth of the FBI, 1933–34.

Depp and Bale shared why the gangster was so beloved by the public and whether or not the FBI would have caught Dillinger if someone hadn’t gave him up to authorities.

Q: Why do you think Dillinger being a gangster was so well-liked by the public?

Depp:  I think the fascination is well earned. Dillinger worked hard and with a lot of those people because they were able to get away with, at least for a certain period; they were able to get away with all the stuff that everyone wanted to get away with. So, there’s an element of Dillinger in a number one of these people. There’s this larger than life, mythic quality.

Bale: With Dillinger, I feel like with the Dust Bowl and so many people in poverty and the extreme feeling of us and them, the haves and have-nots, the fat cats, the banks, so many people were resentful and had had their lives ruined, that hearing about a man who was actually taking it back for himself, they couldn’t help by idolize him.

Q: But the public idolized Purvis too, can you talk about that?

Bale: To this day he is the agent who was responsible for catching the most public enemies. That record has still not been broken. I think that the media just couldn’t get enough of him. And Purvis was very consistent in not wishing to take praise solely for himself. He always said it was an agency-wide success and he would always congratulate Hoover who was very much Melvin’s mentor and inspiration. But regardless, the media loved Melvin.

Q: How did Dillinger become a criminal?

Depp: Dillinger was born out of one act of ignorance, in fact. There was a moment of a combination of youth, ignorance, and drunkenness. And at one point or another all three of those things meet. It was when he robbed a local grocery store, I think. He bagged the guy with a sack full of rocks. And the cops picked up on him, and he got busted. The judge had absolutely no tolerance for him, and he was [given] a very long, harsh sentence. I think he was sent to prison for ten years. I think at that time he was eighteen or nineteen; he was a kid. Ten years in the joint at that time was like going in when the world was black and white and coming out when it was vivid. Ladies were wearing shorter dresses, revealing clothing, tight sweaters. It was also, if you went into prison at that time it was a school. He went in and learned how to become a bank robber.

Q: Can you tell us a little bit about Dillinger’s personality?

Depp: Dillinger was extremely savvy for a guy who basically came up from nowhere. He knew that his love for the people and the people’s love for him would work in his favor. So there was this kind of this Robin Hood, on some level, in John Dillinger. And he used that; he was not dumb. He was very smart to use that.

Q: How do you think Dillinger saw himself?

Depp: He didn’t see himself as a criminal in a bad way. He went out there as a rock and roll star. He spoke to them and owned them while he was speaking to them. He was very charismatic and very powerful in that way. And every time he spoke he made Hoover and his boys look like chimps.

Q: Can you talk about the conflicts Melvin Purvis felt?

Bale: One of the things that I think was kind of charming about Purvis, some of the press would call him ‘Nervous Purvis,’ but it was only because he was so candid that he would admit to becoming fearful at times, and when Alston [Melvin Purvis' son] took me to the cemetery, on the gravestone it’s written in Latin, but the translation is, ‘I was often afraid, but never ran.’ Which I thought was a wonderful caption for him, because he did find himself in so many dangerous situations.

Q: Do you think Purvis and Dillinger were evenly matched?

Depp: I am sure Christian would have a different point of view on this than I do. I don’t think they were evenly matched. I think Dillinger’s instinct and his abilities far surpassed that of Purvis. But especially at that time, I think Purvis was given virtually an impossible task. He obviously did very well. I think the only reason they got Dillinger was because someone ratted him out, that’s it. Other than that, they’d still be debating where he ended up to this day, I am sure of it.

Q: What was it like working with the cast of the film?

Depp: The Dillinger crew was perfectly casted. It was within the first hour that we all felt like we’d known each other for many, many years. Basically, what I’m saying is that I’d rob a bank with any one of those guys if they wanted to. Tomorrow.

Q: Is there a particular scene that stands out to you?

Bale: There is a scene where Purvis does meet with Dillinger and is talking to him or rather listening to him more and Dillinger seems to have a great insight into who Purvis is, and gives him a warning that this is not for him. And if he is going to be able to catch him he will have to get his hands dirty in a way he can see Melvin is not going to be happy with. Melvin gives nothing away right there, but I think it was really quite as we portray it in the movie, he was quite shaken by that. That this man [Dillinger] was actually quite erudite and thoughtful and was able to tell him something about himself, which was shocking because maybe it was true.

Q: Do you think it helped to shoot in the same location where the action happened in real life?

Bale: When you use the real location, you get a kind of reverence for it; of standing in the same spot. Just being in those woods, just sitting silently for awhile knowing that the man you are portraying sat in this very spot and was actually fired on and fired back. I think it was incredibly helpful.