MADISON - Actor Johnny Depp, the biggest moneymaker for theaters the past two years, will soon be in Wisconsin portraying Depression-era bank robber John Dillinger, Gov. Jim Doyle said Wednesday, confirming a new film will have major parts shot in the state. Doyle said NBC Universal committed to Wisconsin as the scene for parts of "Public Enemies," with Depp playing the robber whose Midwest crime spree ended when FBI agents shot him to death in Chicago in July 1934. It is the first major production to come to Wisconsin since new tax incentives for the film industry took effect Jan. 1. "We knew that the competitive incentives would bring significant economic activity to Wisconsin," said Lt. Gov. Barbara Lawton, who was to announce the film plans on Doyle's behalf Wednesday at video game maker Raven Software in Middleton. She said the incentives and the projects they attract will create high-paying, high-tech jobs and have "an economic ripple effect, starting in local communities where filming is done and moving throughout our state." Depp starred last year in "Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End" and "Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street." An annual survey by Quigley Publishing Co. put him first in 2006 and 2007 in generating box office revenue for theaters. "Public Enemies," directed by Michael Mann, is expected to start filming in March. The film is a screen adaptation of Bryan Burrough's 2004 book "Public Enemies: America's Greatest Crime Wave and the Birth of the FBI, 1933-34." It describes the FBI's transformation when confronted with crime sprees of Dillinger, Charles Arthur "Pretty Boy" Floyd and Lester "Baby Face Nelson" Gillis. Dillinger and his gang pulled off bank robberies across the Midwest and used a northwoods Wisconsin lodge as a hideout. Doyle's announcement did not say where in Wisconsin the filming would be done, but about 20 communities are believed to have been under consideration. Business leaders in Baraboo, 30 miles north of Madison, confirmed last month that a Mann representative had been in town. Merlin Zitzner, CEO of the Baraboo National Bank, said filmmakers were drawn to the city because its courthouse square retains a vintage look, and his bank's exterior hasn't changed much since the 1930s. "The only thing new is that Mike (Mann) was in town Saturday," Zitzner told The Associated Press Tuesday evening. He said he met with Mann but had not been told whether he wanted to use the Baraboo bank for filming. Zitzner said he was impressed with Mann, a University of Wisconsin graduate. "I can see where he'd be a good director," he said. "He's got a real pleasant demeanor -- like the kind of person that can get the most out of a big-ego actor." Wisconsin's new film tax incentives have been described as among the best in the nation. Under the law, a production company qualifies for a tax credit of 25 percent of the wages paid to employees to produce a film, video, electronic game, broadcast advertisement, or television production in the state. Also included are credits for sales tax, construction, wardrobes, clothing and visual effects. (Copyright 2008 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)