William Kelley, director of the re-enactment, said he is looking for people 16 and older.
“I’m hoping to have a really good turnout,” Kelley said. “I’m going to need probably 30 or 40 extras, especially those in their 20s and 30s.”
Once chosen, actors will have five days to find costumes appropriate for the 1930s. Kelley said he will hold a meeting and go through the actors’ costumes to make sure they match the period.
He said he also is looking for about 20 vintage 1920s and 1930s cars.
“I’ve already got five or six,” he said.
The re-enactment will be filmed on July 22, the 75th anniversary of Dillinger’s death.
“I’ve got film crews coming from Dallas, KCEN-TV and PBS wants to come,” Kelley said. “We’re going to turn this into a DVD.”
Kelley’s inspiration to direct the re-enactment came from his research on Dillinger earlier this year.
“I said, ‘My God, this is the 75th anniversary,’” he said. “I never dreamed that the movie ‘Public Enemies’ was going to come out.”
“Public Enemies,” starring Johnny Depp and Christian Bale, is based on the book by former Temple resident Bryan Burrough.
Kelley said the Beltonian is very similar to the Biograph Theatre in Chicago and Cochran, Blair and Potts’ windows and doors are similar to stores along the street where Dillinger was shot.
“This could have just as easily happened in Belton, Texas, because he was jumping all over the place,” Kelley said.
Kelley has already selected his main actors, with Mark Oler playing Dillinger.
“I chose them by the way they look, carry themselves, and their personalities,” he said. “They just amazingly dropped into my lap. I knew everybody besides two of the agents.”
Kelley said a special appearance at the re-enactment is expected to be made by the son of Melvin Purvis, the FBI agent in charge of the capture of Dillinger on July 22, 1934. Purvis was one of several agents involved in the shooting death of Dillinger as the gangster left the Biograph Theatre in Chicago.
“Alston Purvis is going to see if he can get down here,” Kelley said. “He is teaching summer classes but he is going to see if he can get someone to cover it to attend the re-enactment.”
