| T O P I C R E V I E W |
| Joe Blevins |
Posted - 04/18/2007 : 20:34:10
It looks like The Dark Knight, the sequel to Batman Begins is also being partially filmed in Chicago. In fact, they're filming right out my window, so to speak. I work in Chicago's business district, the Loop, and there's a film crew shooting right now at the post office across the street. The post office is doubling as the Gotham National Bank, and they've added the words "GOTHAM NATIONAL BANK" to the side of the building.
So far, it's a whole lot of nothing. They've been constructing a false front that add a few extra feet to the side of the post office building. (We didn't know what that was being built for until today.) They've set up a lot of lights next to the building, too, but so far that's the extent of what I've seen. Ho hum. I can say with some certainty that the plot of the next film will involve a bank, but that's hardly news in a Batman movie. Was there even an episode of "Batman" which didn't involve the Gotham National Bank? It must be the most-robbed fictional bank in history.
Oh, well. Still kind of exciting to have a real live movie filming next door to my job. |
| 15 L A T E S T R E P L I E S (Newest First) |
| Joe Blevins |
Posted - 06/01/2007 : 01:58:34
Looks like they were filming INSIDE the defunct post office, too:
http://www.usatoday.com/life/movies/news/2007-05-28-dark-knight-firstlook_N.htm
The article is mostly about the IMAX process, but you can see a bit of the post office (doubling as the Gotham National Bank) in the background. Enjoy. |
| Sean |
Posted - 05/08/2007 : 01:28:44
quote:
Originally posted by Downtown
quote:
Originally posted by Joe BlevinsDoes this guy get a screen credit (Fake Wall Remnant Guard)? Does he tell friends/family he's in the movie business?
No, he tells friends/family what a joke it is that he's getting paid $18/hr just to guard a fragment of a fake wall. Then he calls his union rep and thanks him.
I can now see how it can cost $100+ million to make a movie.  |
| Downtown |
Posted - 05/07/2007 : 17:00:17
quote:
Originally posted by Joe Blevins
Does this guy get a screen credit (Fake Wall Remnant Guard)? Does he tell friends/family he's in the movie business?
No, he tells friends/family what a joke it is that he's getting paid $18/hr just to guard a fragment of a fake wall. Then he calls his union rep and thanks him. |
| Joe Blevins |
Posted - 05/06/2007 : 07:04:00
SAD POSTSCRIPT: The fake wall is all but dismantled now. There's just a tiny little corner of it left.
But dig this: there's a guy in an orange jacket whose apparent job is to guard this pitiful little fragment of fake wall ALL DAY LONG. Honest to god, this guy paces back and forth in front of the fake wall remnant (no bigger than a telephone booth), and he's there all day, every day. That's all he does. He never leaves that corner. The film crew and equipment are long gone. There's just this one guy left and maybe 7% of the fake wall. We watch him occasionally from our office and speculate on how he's doing.
Does this guy get a screen credit (Fake Wall Remnant Guard)? Does he tell friends/family he's in the movie business?
|
| Downtown |
Posted - 04/28/2007 : 05:33:46
Tom's Restaurant is in Morningside Heights at 112th and Broadway. Before the show it was already featured in Suzanna Vega's song "Tom's Diner." |
| Sean |
Posted - 04/28/2007 : 01:08:17
The only time I can recall seeing filming in action then watching the movie was the riot scene in The Boxer (1997) (after the car bomb). It was filmed in Dublin, and I was in a pub with a cousin and friends watching the filming out the window, I recall at least 2-3 takes. When I watched the DVD a few years later I recall seeing the light coming out of the pub that I had been in while filming (although the pub wasn't in any shot) and illuminating the corner of the scene. It was strange watching the action in the movie from a different angle to the angle I had seen it live from, and also knowing that I was only a few metres to the left of the scene sipping on a pint of Guinness. 
Although I did recognise some scenes in LOTR and Heavenly Creatures.
I'm looking forward to seeing The Dark Knight and recognising those scenes in your photos, Joe. |
| thefoxboy |
Posted - 04/28/2007 : 00:28:48
quote:
Originally posted by Downtown
quote:
Originally posted by Randall
[It's terrific fun to be able to point at the screen and say, "That's where..." [Please reserve your vocal comments for when you're watching the DVD at home, out of respect for us theatergoers. ]
I have those moments on almost every episode of Seinfeld. The show was filmed in LA, of course, but all the location shots outside are real places in New York City. And even though they all take place on the Upper West Side, most of the locations are in reality in lower Manhattan, around the Union Sq/Greenwich Village neighborhoods, where I lived when I went to NYU. I can show you where the New York Health Club is (where Elaine worked out with JFK Jr and George was caught peeing in the shower), where the post office Neuman works at is, where Rudy's Vintage Clothing Shop is, where the Improv(isational) Comedy Club is, et al.
Back in 2002 I went to get a soup from the 'Soup Nazi', it was closed while he was on holidays.
I also went to see the diner, if my memory serves me right, it is in Harlem? |
| Joe Blevins |
Posted - 04/28/2007 : 00:14:58
Like I said, it was just a persistent rumor, idle gossip among office drones. It is an odd coincidence that there would be a ventilator fire at this vacant building while a movie was being filmed there. The fire and the filming weren't really near each other, so it's likely that they were not connected except by happenstance. In any case, the fire was mainly a non-event: a big commotion over nothing. Had it happened at any other time, we'd have barely paid attention. As it was, the fire did bring publicity -- wanted or not -- to the movie. The filming seems to have wrapped for good at this location. They're even dismantling the famous (around here, anyway) fake wall.
My hope when the movie comes out is that they don't airbrush out the reflection of our building in the windows of the Gotham bank. As ugly and non-cinematic as our building is, I'd like to see it onscreen, even as a reflection. |
| Downtown |
Posted - 04/28/2007 : 00:11:44
quote:
Originally posted by Randall
[It's terrific fun to be able to point at the screen and say, "That's where..." [Please reserve your vocal comments for when you're watching the DVD at home, out of respect for us theatergoers.]
I have those moments on almost every episode of Seinfeld. The show was filmed in LA, of course, but all the location shots outside are real places in New York City. And even though they all take place on the Upper West Side, most of the locations are in reality in lower Manhattan, around the Union Sq/Greenwich Village neighborhoods, where I lived when I went to NYU. I can show you where the New York Health Club is (where Elaine worked out with JFK Jr and George was caught peeing in the shower), where the post office Neuman works at is, where Rudy's Vintage Clothing Shop is, where the Improv(isational) Comedy Club is, et al. |
| randall |
Posted - 04/27/2007 : 22:36:06
Joe, I can't believe that anyone would set a fire for publicity purposes months before the picture opens. [The weekend before, maybe... ]
Just like they didn't burn down the James Bond stage at Elstree to plug a movie.
But when BATMAN finally opens, are you going to have a great time! It's terrific fun to be able to point at the screen and say, "That's where..." [Please reserve your vocal comments for when you're watching the DVD at home, out of respect for us theatergoers.] |
| Joe Blevins |
Posted - 04/25/2007 : 23:07:13
quote:
Originally posted by Conan The Westy
quote:
Originally posted by Joe Blevins
The story is being reported on the IMDb today:
Fire Breaks Out on 'Dark Knight' Set
So it wasn't a stunt fire...
The official story is that it had nothing to do with the Dark Knight filming. It just happened to break out during filming. An article I read today blamed it on a ventilator:
http://tinyurl.com/2zv4xl
It was a small, harmless fire which was quickly contained, but it created a huge stir while it lasted. One local TV station (NBC 5)was apparently even covering it live by helicopter. The rumor that it was all done for publicity persists (at least throughout our building), though obviously it's just conjecture. I can say that in three plus years, that ventilator hasn't caused any other fires that I know of. (Believe me, we'd know.) Odd that it should cause one while Batman is fliming, eh? |
| Conan The Westy |
Posted - 04/25/2007 : 21:55:40
quote:
Originally posted by Joe Blevins
The story is being reported on the IMDb today:
Fire Breaks Out on 'Dark Knight' Set
So it wasn't a stunt fire... |
| Downtown |
Posted - 04/25/2007 : 18:29:58
quote:
Originally posted by Shiv
quote:
Originally posted by Downtown
quote:
Originally posted by silly
quote:
Originally posted by Shiv
I believed anyone working in the building would need to know about the Blues Brothers just to be employed there. Oh well
I used to work a few miles from Southfork, and we always had people asking for directions.
If they didn't buy anything, we sometimes gave them the wrong directions. Oops.
Ummm...should we be impressed by that?
I was only joking too
You were? Sorry, I didn't pick up on it.
Very amusing!  |
| Joe Blevins |
Posted - 04/25/2007 : 18:16:00
The story is being reported on the IMDb today:
Fire Breaks Out on 'Dark Knight' Set
The set of the Batman Begins sequel in Chicago, Illinois was brought to a standstill yesterday after a fire broke out. The blaze broke out on the roof of a vacant post office building, which was being prepared for a scene in The Dark Knight. The city's fire department responded quickly to the fire, which is believed to have started in the building's ventilation system. As WENN went to press, it was unclear whether the filming was responsible for the fire. No one was injured. The post office building was being used as Gotham National Bank in the film. |
| Shiv |
Posted - 04/25/2007 : 00:14:34
quote:
Originally posted by Downtown
quote:
Originally posted by silly
quote:
Originally posted by Shiv
I believed anyone working in the building would need to know about the Blues Brothers just to be employed there. Oh well
I used to work a few miles from Southfork, and we always had people asking for directions.
If they didn't buy anything, we sometimes gave them the wrong directions. Oops.
Ummm...should we be impressed by that?
I was only joking too |
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