Remember the Christian Bale Batman movie a couple summers ago? The sequel, The Dark Knight, is currently filming in Chicago. I don't typically follow filming schedules or movie location news, but today, this Major Motion Picture was filming in my neighborhood!
There were a couple dozen movie trailers parked on the basketball courts at Ben's school. The extras holding area and lunchroom was in the annex where I pick Ben up from school each day. I took a couple pictures with my cell phone of a Gotham Police Department cop car parked near the school. The main event was filming inside an apartment on a nearby side street.
Apparently the school gets a hefty check for renting out the property to Hollywood, and has done this before. (This is how the school was able to afford a digital music lab, where Ben had music class in kindergarten.) No wonder movies cost so much to make! Not only are they hiring actors and renting locations, but then there are the dozens of people getting paid to loiter at any given time. (Is it boring to be on the crew?)
Now I'm hankering to see this movie for $10 when it comes out next July, and I'm hankering to take my kid even though it'll be PG-13 and violent. I wonder how much of the movie will be identifiably in Chicago, and how much it'll be convincingly Gotham.
Oh! A woman we were talking to on the sidewalk said she'd seen Gary Oldman heading to his trailer earlier. I don't know which other stars have been haunting my neighborhood today. Maggie Gyllenhaal? Heath (Brokeback Mountain) Ledger? Christian Bale??
Edited 6/20 to add: They used their GPD squad cars a few blocks away, under the El tracks; video over here. I Googled up other posts about the local filming and saw what appears to be a stuntman in the Batsuit on the back porch stairs of the apartment where they were filming, and video from my neighborhood a few hours before Ben and I gawked there. There was also some murky footage from the wee hours purporting to show Gary Oldman in the back courtyard of that apartment in a dark suit, but I couldn't make him out.
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11 comments:
Rumor has it that Dennis Quaid (whom I lurv) will be filming OUTSIDE THE BAKERY sometime in the next few days.
Dennis Quaid! Ooh, I love his eyes. My brother-in-law has those eyes, too.
Dennis Quaid and Christian Bale? This is the BEST belated 40th birthday gift, YET! Thanks guys! Really... where do I go get them?
email me (dharmapractice at mac dot com) and i'll tell you where the bakery is. and if i have more info on dates, etc., i'll let you know.
That happened to me with Die Hard 3 when I was in high school. They filmed it right in the neighborhood for weeks. Exciting times all around.
Sam Jackson, man. Bruce Willis.
I just dreamt about Dennis Quaid the other night.
One of New Yorker's favorite sports is to go to the movies and complain about how they have rearranged the city. "Those idiots -- you can't go up Broadway in the 70s and then be at the Puck Building!" etc. etc.
I think that happens in every city. "When Harry Met Sally" (a movie I LOATHE for multiple reasons) is notorious around here, particularly the going-the-wrong-direction-on-Lake-Shore-Drive scene.
Oh lawd, Christian Bale...the boy drives me insane crazy lustful. Yum. And you are one lucky Orange, Orange!
OMGOMGOMGOMG! Your nabe is MY nabe!
I WANT TO SEE THE BALE!
Ok, sorry, I am feeling much cal-
OMGOMGOMGTHEBALE!
Hi Orange,
1. You're so lucky! This sounds cool, and I'm quite envious. I don't think they'll be filming any movies in my redneck patch of Indiana any time soon, though.
2. This is off-topic, but regarding your comment on OralHygieneQueen's blog - how did you get into medical editing? I'm not clever enough for med school, but I do have quite a good eye for commas. Oh, and I've seen many, many episodes of "House." Any recommendations on how to start (training, resources, etc.)?
Why have I not seen the movie people back in my neighborhood? Dammit, I want movie! I did have a separate Hollywood encounter, though—someone from the art department for Sandra Bullock's next movie project (in which she plays an eccentric crossword constructor—as if!) sent me a couple disposable cameras to document the sort of paper-laden squalor that puzzle people live in. If Sandra Bullock's character's desk is appalling and she's got stacks of crossword books and a couple giant dictionaries, blame me.
The Fugitive is an awesome movie for Chicagoans to call geographical bullshit on. He hops off the El across the street from where I used to work and suddenly he's at the Hilton a good mile away? Hah. And there's no damn pay phone on that bridge. But look! It's Lower Wacker Drive! Hey! I know that!
k, I got into medical publishing right out of college, with a little boost from a familiarity with medical terminology (my mom took a class in it when I was in junior high, and I devoured the textbook). After a number of years working in medical publishing and picking up more terminology, I got laid off and had little actual copyediting experience, but a damn fine resume for becoming a freelance medical editor. Maybe start with a medical terminology class at a local community college?
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