There was a round of commercials in the late 80's pushing Chicago as a tourist destination. Why they were aired here in Chicago, I don't know. We're already here! But they featured a catchy song called "Calling Me Home, Chicago" and I owned - get this - the 45 of that song (that's a record, for all you young folks). Visit me sometime and I'll sing it for you. Really, I will.
Anyway, I love Chicago. I was born in the city (Swedish Covenant Hospital - they'll be erecting a stature of me any day) and lived either in the city or the suburbs my whole life. This place is in my DNA. That's why, when I saw The Dark Knight yesterday, I was thrilled by all the bits and pieces of Chicago that made it into the movie.
Disclaimer: I'm sure I'll be revealing spoilers of the movie in the next few paragraphs, so if you haven't seen it yet, stop reading!
Last summer, my husband (who works downtown) came home and excitedly told me that the new Batman movie, The Dark Knight, was going to be filming right next to his building. Turns out that the building across the street from his (on Van Buren) was an old post office that now stands empty. They turned it into the bank that's held up in the first scene.
Basically, when Bruce (my husband Bruce, not Bruce Wayne) looked out of his building every day, he was looking at a building that said Gotham National Bank.I saw shots of it at various blogs because lots of people in his building took videos and pictures of the filming. It's funny, because the spacing (er, kerning?) of the letters was off and it really looked like Got ham National Bank. However, a shot of the outside (showing the name) wasn't in the movie as far as we could tell.
Bruce (let's just say it's always my Bruce unless I specify Bruce Wayne) was watching the day that they filmed the scene where the school bus crashes into the bank. Strangely, the school bus caught fire - not planned - and the Chicago Fire Department had to show up and put it out. Also, several times he saw helicopters with cameras flying around his building.
Now, the very opening shot of the movie is an aerial shot swooping towards - you guessed it - Bruce's building. A window pops out (four floors above Bruce; he's on the 15th floor) and two bad guys slide along a wire to the top of the building next door (the bank). Bruce got to watch that entire scene being filmed, and also, one morning when he got on the elevator, the two bad guys (stunt men with scary masks) were on it and he rode up with them. Crazy cool.
Besides all the bank action, I was thrilled to catch glimpses of things like Navy Pier, LaSalle Street, the Chicago River, and tons of other familiar buildings. It was like Christopher Nolan didn't even bother to hide that Gotham is really Chicago. The car chase scene on Lower Wacker was fantastic!
Needless to say, we were both really excited to see the movie and it didn't disappoint. I like my Batman movies dark, and this one is definitely dark. Heath Ledger was just as brilliant as everyone said he was, and it was only halfway through the movie that I remembered he was gone. He just seemed so vividly alive.
I found a great article at CNN that talks all about why they filmed in Chicago and how they used the city in the movie. I'm delighted that Chicago's rich history and architecture was featured so prominently. I'm sure I would have liked the movie anyway, but now it's extra special.
