C.P. sponsors early screening of 'Public Enemies'

* Movie filmed in city will raise funds to restore Old Sheriff's House.

CROWN POINT -- Only the first 600 lucky people who buy tickets will get to see an advanced local screening of "Public Enemies" the day before its release nationwide July 1, the city announced Tuesday.

Crown Point teamed up with The Old Sheriff's House and Jail Foundation and the South Shore Convention & Visitors Authority to highlight the fact that scenes from the movie, showcasing notorious outlaw John Dillinger, played by Johnny Depp, were filmed in the Old Lake County Jail, from which Dillinger actually escaped.

"Universal Studios gave us their blessing and it's a go," Sheriff's House Foundation spokesman Dan Rohaley said.

Kerasotes Showplace 12, at 2590 Southlake Mall Drive, Hobart, will offer two showings June 30 of the action-thriller from director Michael Mann, which also stars Christian Bale and Oscar-winner Marion Cotillard.

The first showing is slated for 6 p.m. and the second for 9 p.m. Tickets for the first show are $50, including concessions and a pass to the John Dillinger Museum inside the Indiana Welcome Center in Hammond, plus a voucher to tour the Old Sheriff's House and former Lake County Jail. The 9 p.m. showing will set moviegoers back $75 each or $125 a couple, but offers a lot more glitz.

Those ticketholders will get to attend a VIP cocktail party at the Hall of Justice, where guests 21 and older will enter on a Hollywood-style red carpet, according to Crown Point's director of special events Jennifer Young.

Mayor David Uran will formally welcome guests, who will be eligible to win door prizes.

"The best part is that all the proceeds will go toward the continued restoration of the Sheriff's House," Rohaley said.

"Ever since the film wrapped last year we've been talking about what we can do," Young said. "Universal Studios was so accommodating.

"This is a once-in-a lifetime event," Young said. "There were thousands of people out there watching during filming every day.

"Years from now kids will go back there where their parents were kids watching the filming. It's a legacy to their children."

Young said the event is a piece of history, in perfect timeing with the 175th anniversary of the city of Crown Point.

"I can't think of a more amazing way to market it," Young said.

"Public Enemies" is rated "R" and no one under age 17 will be admitted without a parent or guardian.

Tickets must be purchased in advance at the Mayor's Office of Special Events, 662-3290 or the Crown Point Parks Department, 661-2271.

Contact Diane Krieger Spivak at 648-3076 or dspivak@post-trib.com Comment on this story at www.post-trib.com.