Lora Adams is nearly assured of seeing herself in "Public Enemies," the highly publicized movie that opens nationwide on Wednesday.

"I can actually see myself in the trailer," the East Moline actress said, "but it actually goes by so fast I had to pause."

Adams, a longtime Quad-City area theater performer, producer and director, had already been an extra in several other films, including "Payback," "While You Were Sleeping" and the 1990s remake of "Miracle on 34th Street."

Her only movie speaking role came in the little-seen independent comedy "Peoria Babylon."

So when she heard about the chance to appear as an extra in "Public Enemies," with Johnny Depp as John Dillinger and co-starring Christian Bale as G-man Melvin Purvis and Marion Cotillard as Dillinger's love interest, Adams returned to her native Chicago to audition.

Among a group chosen from more than 2,000 who auditioned, she played "upscale woman" in an outdoor scene that was shot in Chicago from 3 to 6 a.m. one day in the spring of 2008, early morning hours that were meant to represent New Year's Eve.

During a scene at a movie theater - Dillinger often plotted his crimes in public places, Adams said - she is one row back and two seats to the side of Depp.

In another scene, she played a diner at a fancy restaurant. She initially was seated behind Depp and Cotillard with her back to them and then facing them. But director Michael Mann replaced Adams, who was wearing a pale-colored dress, with a woman wearing gold lame. Adams became a wandering patron, then a woman waiting for the hat check and then a woman outside the restaurant.

She had a close encounter with Depp as a scene was resetting, and "I literally bumped into him."

She tried to move to let Depp go around her, but he stepped in front of her each time.

"I knew he was doing it on purpose," she said and then laughed. "He had a grin on his face."