It's hard to think of a better conversation-starter at a party or when interviewing for a sound tech job in Hollywood than "I was a stand-in for Johnny Depp."

That's something it appears Madison Media Institute student Kurt Szempruch will be doing Monday on the set of the movie "Public Enemies," filming in Columbus.

"We have very limited information, but I got a phone call last week saying they most likely want me to be a Johnny Depp stand-in," says Szempruch. "The only other things they told me were to free up the next few weeks of my life and don 't cut my hair."

Szempruch went to the casting call at Monona Terrace last month and was pulled from the line. It turns out he is the same weight, height and jacket size as Depp. That makes him ideal for standing in for Depp while sound and lighting are set up, perhaps walking through some lines or scenes.

The 24-year-old Gurnee, Ill., native will graduate from the sound/audio program at his school in May and says he's very interested in doing sound for films. He currently works for Badger State DJs mixing music in clubs around town.

"When I tell people, the reaction is usually, Why I didn't know Johnny Depp was that ... ' They pause and I say, Short?'"

Depp and Szempruch are about 5 feet 9 inches tall.

It seems that height was a key at the casting call, as Allen Hutchinson, another Madison Media Institute student who was selected, is also about 5-foot-9. But he's going to be on camera, rather than posing as Depp.

Hutchinson, who is known as "Hutch" as a musician and producer around Madison, concurs that details are sketchy. He says, "I've been told I'm going to be in an outdoor scene, fully wardrobed."

He too was told not to cut his hair and not to tan because they want him pale, but he has an appointment today that could last up to eight hours for cutting, dyeing or whatever else the folks from Universal want to do to ready him.

"Hopefully I 'll be a public enemy," he says. "I was picked due to my height, my pigmentation and my hair."

For Hutchinson, this is another lucky break in what's been a good year following a lousy one.

In February 2006, the Kenosha native was in a "horrible" car accident that injured his head and back, ruined a new car he'd saved years to purchase and caused him to miss school and go into debt with medical bills.

"It's literally been quite a pain, but now good things are happening for me," says Hutchinson. "I won Mountain Dew's Battle of the Bands, I got this role and in May I'll be graduating. "

2008 sans DeVita

Theater fans in southern Wisconsin who are lamenting that actor Jim DeVita, a beloved member of American Players Theatre's core company for 14 years, won't be on stage this summer can take heart. He assures us it's just a one-season sabbatical and it is good news -- he can pursue his writing passion plus spend some summer weekends with his kids, now ages 9 and 12.

And DeVita stresses he's not burned out. He 's merely transferring his creative energy into writing four plays, including two for APT, as well as working on his next novel.

"I've always wanted to know what I could do if I could focus on writing for more than a few hours at a time," says DeVita. "I've got to stop this six to seven years between books. I'm getting too old."

He's finishing up his work on "The Desert Queen," a play for 2008, which will be performed by Sarah Day.

"And I'm working on a new play for APT for 2009 when we get the new space," says DeVita, referring to plans for a second theater at the Spring Green location.

But he says it's too early to talk about the subject matter for the play or book. "I get superstitious and worry I'll spook it, as Hemingway used to say. "

When we spoke Tuesday, DeVita was preparing to leave Wednesday on a book tour to New York to promote his novel, "The Silenced." It will include a talk at his high school on Long Island, which was the physical model he had in his head for the school that is the basis for much of his novel.

And while he stresses the theme of a totalitarian zero tolerance regime did not come from his school, the windows covered in green paint so kids couldn't see disruptive events outside actually did.

"I'll be reading a scene in their auditorium that is set in that auditorium."

Eliminated

Allison Kuehn, the 19-year-old from Waunakee, won't be seen on Wednesday night's episode of "America's Next Top Model," which airs on the CW. A week ago she was the second contestant eliminated, bringing the pool of models on Tyra Banks' show down to 11 from an original group of 35.

Get in touch with Melanie at mconklin@madison.com or 608-252-6187.