Tips on how to make ‘Enemies’

Billy Crudup gets asked the same two questions whenever he tells friends he’s playing infamous FBI chief J. Edgar Hoover in Michael Mann’s gangster thriller “Public Enemies.”

The first question is always an excited “Really?” says the 40-year-old Tony Award-winning actor. “The second question is, ‘Did you put on a dress?’

“There you have it,” says Crudup, who was last seen as the towering blue Dr. Manhattan in “Watchmen.” Crudup promises he keeps this Hoover strictly in the closet.

Set in 1933, the action-thriller, which opens July 1, revolves around the legendary Depression-era bank robber John Dillinger (Johnny Depp), whose crime spree in Chicago made him Public Enemy No. 1 to Hoover and the recently formed FBI and its top agent, Melvin Purvis (Christian Bale).

Crudup spent just two weeks working on the role last year in Chicago and Wisconsin, and said his time playing opposite Bale was great. But he’s still looking forward to working with Depp -- the two had no scenes together.

Crudup says that the “Public Enemies” script, by Ronan Bennett and Mann and Ann Biderman, was rich with character development -- “filled with this mixture, which seemed always to be Hoover’s problem, of ego and patriotism. That was more than enough for me to tackle him.”

Mann, says Crudup, always sort of characterized Hoover as a visionary to the actor. “ ‘Visionary’ to me speaks of somebody who is attempting to change society or culture for the good,” Crudup says. “It was interesting to think of him in a somewhat positive light.”

Crudup was in awe of Mann’s skills as a filmmaker (“The Insider,” “Heat”).

“He’s incredibly ambitious and has a fierce intellect and is driven to create spectacular work,” he says. “He is fastidious about everything and really likes to be the singular voice behind, not just the spirit of, but the minutiae of the story he’s telling. It’s impressive . . . I barely have the mind to juggle my lines!”

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susan.king@latimes.com