“Have you seen it yet?” I hope you have your answer prepared, because people from all over Wisconsin, even people you don’t know, will be prodding you with that very question starting July 2.

This comes with the opening of Public Enemies on July 1 (or June 30, for the lucky folks in Oshkosh, Madison, and Columbus with tickets for pre-screenings). It doesn’t matter if the John Dillinger biopic, a major Hollywood blockbuster, is a complete train wreck. I promise you no other film this year will get more water cooler buzz from Wisconsinites.

The reason for this, of course, is that the Michael Mann (a UW-Madison graduate) film was made right here, and big-name celebrities like Johnny Depp, Christian Bale, and Marion Cotillard were in our backyards. Well maybe not your backyard, but if you were anywhere near central Wisconsin during filming, they may as well have. Believe me. I was there.

You couldn’t go a day – nay, an hour – without someone talking about Johnny Depp. And when they weren’t talking about Johnny, they were digging deep into their brain for a tidbit that they hadn’t told in a week or so while they patiently waited for the subject to come up again. You really could hold your breath. It wouldn’t be long.

Only a small percentage of the people stricken with Johnny Fever were smitten young girls, but everyone instantly transformed into smitten young girls the very second Johnny’s name came into the conversation equation. Just thinking about how many paces away from you Johnny was, at any given moment, put sparkles in your eyes.

The most ridiculous thing about the production coming to Wisconsin was the hordes of people – literally hundreds – that lined up every day for shooting. These people were up at the crack of dawn, every weekday (did they take time off work?!), hoping to see a glimpse of filming. They did this with the full knowledge that they’d have to stand several blocks away from the action and not make noise.

This ridiculous star searching was made even more humorous by the fact that, almost daily, the newspaper group I worked at was running a story about the unexpected encounters people had with celebrities the day before. One old lady was getting ready to yell at someone for parking in front of her house when she realized that person was Johnny Depp. A bunch of stars were frequenting bars and restaurants (they get hungry, too). One night at my favorite watering hole, Stephen Dorff (Blade) and Stephen Graham (Snatch) come in, and the place goes nuts. Patrons couldn’t place the movies they knew the B-list stars from, but they went nuts nonetheless.

“They’re so short!” someone said. “Didn’t you think they’d be huge? Man … I mean … I’m taller than those guys.”

The filmmakers famously shot a bunch of Public Enemies in Columbus, Madison, Oshkosh, and Wisconsin Dells. But, for the most part, they tried to keep the filming “hush-hush.” And who can blame them? I know I wouldn’t want a thousand screaming fans nearby every second. But the secret never lasted long.

In the case of the Dells, the local police got a few phone calls one morning that there were gunshots in the woods nearby. A few seconds later they gave my newspaper a call, and I was out the door and after a hot crime story. By the time I got there, much to my chagrin, I was assigned to knock on trailers at a campsite trying to find Michael Mann and Christian Bale, who were there shooting a forest chase scene involving guns.

You can forgive my cynicism, now. Don’t get me wrong, it was an exciting time. Until then, Wisconsin was barely even a blip on the cinematic map. Even in the few shining moments that we did have, someone like Titanic’s Jack Dawson had to go and shame our state by stating he’s from Chippewa Falls, only to name drop Lake Wissota before it existed. Pssshhht. Idiot. At least Annie Hall knew to keep her mouth shut. The film incentives passed by Gov. Doyle made way for more than a dozen new projects in a state that previously yielded a small list like A Simple Plan, Major League, Mr. 3000, and Back to School. And, now, we had a major blockbuster.

Public Enemies was to Wisconsin cinema what Bon Iver was for Eau Claire music. By that I mean it was an exciting change of pace, to see our little piece of home on the national map. But by fall, we realized that success was a double-edged sword, as we started to feel some backlash about hearing too much about Johnny and Justin. Despite the exhaustion, both are worth celebrating. In the long run it will only help our area and our sense of place.

Now that it’s all over, and Doyle has been looking to cut the film incentives saying there’s not enough benefits, I just think of the summers to come. The eye of the storm may be past us, but the hordes of people will return. Believe me, Mr. Doyle. I was there. And everyone loves Johnny Depp.