to see a Collection of 55 Pictures of the movie "The Dark Knight".I was at a huge IMAX theater this past Christmas 2007 on the opening night of the movie "I am Legend" with 2,000+ other Chicagoans when the previews of the upcoming movies began to roll. There we all were, sitting in front of a gargantuan 4-story IMAX theater screen when suddenly "The Dark Knight" preview appeared. We Chicagoans were collectively thinking, "OH . . . MY . . . !!!" because we instantly recognized our gorgeous city up there before us on the IMAX screen. To see Batman standing on the top of the Sears Tower, the 3rd tallest building in the world, was SHEER . . . AWESOMENESS !! It was absolutely brilliant cinematography !!
----------- Sears Tower on Wacker Drive
I and my fellow Chicagoans were sitting in the audience thinking, "OM !! . . . There's LaSalle Street, too, and the Chicago Board of Trade Building . . . there's the old Main Post Office . . . Lower Wacker Drive . . . the L Train viaducts . . .", and so on and so on.Hollywood is always in Chicago every year making a lot of movies. It's just never announced in Chicago to the public-at-large. (Though, of course, the Mayor's Office at City Hall definitely knows about it because it has to be contracted, o.k.'d, and cleared by the Mayor before a movie can be filmed in the city. The city also provides the movie crew with on-site police protection and presence while the movie is being made.) So, for reasons which I will mention later in this blog, I, like most Chicagoans, had no idea that another Batman movie had been shot here last year. All I know is that when the Joker appeared on screen in the preview, I was trying my best to figure out who the actor was. I can usually identify a person in heavy makeup or a disguise. But this time I was having a hard time. I remember finally deciding that it was probably Mickey Rourke. On January 22, 2008, it all finally clicked when it was announced that Heath Ledger had died.
What fascinated me though was that I had been at that very spot on LaSalle Street last year, June 2007, just around the time when that scene was shot, completely oblivious to the fact that a movie was being made in the area.
----------------------- LaSalle Street Canyon
This is our version of Wall Street. The light blue, red and white flag that is on the building on the right is our Chicago Flag. But in the "Dark Knight" movie, it most likely won't be there, else it will be a blooper. After all, this is supposed to be Gotham City ! This spot, where the photographer was standing, was where I got off the CTA bus one day in June 2007. ( You can see a similar CTA bus across the street in this picture ). I then crossed the street which would have been right in front of this camera, and went into the corner Starbucks Coffeehouse that is in one of Heath Ledger's LaSalle Street scenes. In the movie, you will see the Joker ( Heath Ledger ) passing a Starbucks on his right as he is walking down the middle of LaSalle Street at this very street corner.
to see a very funny blog I wrote about how there's a Starbucks on almost every other Chicago corner.The building pictured at the very end of LaSalle Street is the Chicago Board of Trade Building. At the top of this building you can see a 31-foot (9.5 m) tall statue of Ceres, which is a reference to the building being a commodity market. The statue Ceres on the top of this building is faceless because in 1930 its sculptor, John Storrs, believed that this forty-five story building would be sufficiently taller than any other nearby structure and, as a result, no one would be able to see the sculpture's face. "The Dark Knight" gives you a helicopter's view looking down on the top of the statue's head. You can also see the Chicago Board of Trade Building in a scene from the 1978 movie "Damien: Omen II". In it, William Holden walks into a building, which is actually City Hall two blocks further down on LaSalle Street. "The Road to Perdition" gives another view of LaSalle Street.
In the same picture, I think the scene where Bruce Wayne ( Christian Bale ) is having a conversation in an elegant lobby with Harvey Dent ( Aaron Eckhardt ) and Rachel Dawes ( Maggie Gyllenhaal ) was filmed in the building on the left just before you get to the Board of Trade Building.
-------------- The Former Main Post Office
In another scene, the Joker and his clown bandits rob the Gotham Bank, which is actually the Main Post Office seen here. The scene was shot on the street that runs on the left side of this building. I used to go up those same stairs to stand in line to buy stamps and mail my letters at the exact spot where Heath Ledger and the actors held up the "bank". In one scene, Lt. James Gordon ( Gary Oldman ) is seen walking up the stairs of the Main Post Office to investigate the "robbery".
-------------- -------------- Cabrini Green Housing Projects
Another site that seems to be a part of the movie is Cabrini Green. From the DK previews, it appears that an explosion scene was filmed there. This locale was also featured in a scene in "Damien: Omen II". It can also be seen in the opening credits of the TV show "Good Times", where you will also see the John Hancock Tower looming in the background. 
-------------------------- Lower Wacker Drive
---------------------------- Lower Wacker Drive
---------------------------- A Bridge over the Chicago River
Lower Wacker Drive is an elaborate underground network of roads and thousands of parking spaces that lets you drive and park underground underneath the entire circle or "Loop" of skyscrapers and buildings that are above it in the Downtown area. ( I've gotten soooo many tickets parking my car on Lower Wacker Drive !!! I guess you could call me Ticket Queen with all of the parking tickets I had to pay City Hall at $10, $25, and $50 a pop - AND car tows at $190 a tow. THAT'S why I came to Lasalle St. that day on a bus !!! )
"Batman Begins" was also filmed in Chicago with a chase scene that was shot through Lower Wacker Drive. Its upcoming Batman sequel, "The Dark Knight," again turns this underground locale and all of Chicago into a foreboding and fictional Gotham City.
The CTA L Train coming from the South Side
The CTA L Train at Merchandise Mart
In "The Dark Knight", you will see Bruce Wayne ( Christian Bale ) driving his Lamborghini through the L Train viaducts. I think Christian Bale is driving where the L Train runs above Lake Street on the West Side. That's the same street that you see the L Train running on the "Oprah" show. That exact Lake Street spot, as well as the Sears Tower, was also in a scene in "My Bodyguard" (starring Matt Dillon, not the Whitney Houston movie ).
Of course, if you like Chicago L Train scenes don't miss the ones in "Risky Business", "Just Visiting", and Johnny Depp's next movie, "Public Enemies", about the story of Chicago gangster, John Dillinger. It will open in theaters Summer 2009. In my Pictures section, you can see an L Train viaduct scene that they had just finished filming last month.
Many of the architectural locales in both "The Dark Knight" and "Batman Begins" have been immortalized in other seventies, eighties, nineties classics, and beyond, that has Chicago as their backdrop: "Grudge 2", "The Weather Man", "Sixteen Candles", "The Color of Money", "The Blues Brothers", "Home Alone" series, "The Relic", "The Breakfast Club", "Ferris Bueller's Day Off" and many more.
Here are some other Chicago architectural icons that may very well be part of "The Dark Knight":
-------- The Wrigley Building
The Wrigley Building will most certainly be a character in "The Dark Knight". Yes, this building is owned by the Wrigley Gum Company. If you go to their office there, you can get free Wrigley gum offered in a big bowl on the desk. Also, the British Ambassador Embassy is located in this building. When Lady Diana died in 1997, Chicagoans paid their respects by placing flowers at the building's entrance. "The Dark Knight" Steadicam Operator made an interview in the IMAX Video ( that is at the top of this blog ) across the street from the building, which is located on Michigan Ave. 
Merchandise Mart
------------------- Merchandise Mart
Merchandise Mart was formerly owned by the Kennedy Family. The Chicago Teachers Union offices are, also, located in this building. Last year at this time I visited this building many times after work. The Chicago Teachers Union and I were in battle with my archenemy, the principal of my school, and the Chicago Board of Education.
The Drake Hotel
I believe the Drake Hotel is owned by the British Monarchy. Queen Elizabeth, Princess Margaret, and Prince Charles all stayed here during their visits to Chicago. It is very likely that some of the "Dark Knight" cast and crew stayed here during its filming. I pass by this location all the time since I virtually live just blocks away from it.
Buckingham Fountain
Buckingham Fountain, located in Grant Park, may be a part of the "Dark Knight" landscape. ( Notice the Sears Tower and the Chicago Board of Trade Building looming in the background on the left. ) The closing of the movies "Damien: Omen II" and "The Relic", as well as a scene in "Just Visiting" feature this Grant Park area.
Why was I at that LaSalle Street corner that day in June 2007? It was the last day of the school year in Chicago. I had just completed a dark period in my life where I had been embroiled in my own 3-year battle with the principal of my high school.
I was getting off that LaSalle St. bus to go to the Chicago Board of Education building, looking embattled and worn out as if I had just come back from the Civil War or WWII. The Chicago Board of Education Building is exactly the next street over from the LaSalle St. filming of "The Dark Knight". So, I was going to the Board to officially retire from the Chicago Public Schools after serving 31 years as a high school English teacher.
I had thoroughly enjoyed my entire years of teaching, except the last 3 years. Those last 3 years were as if Beelzebub came up through the floor of our high school and possessed the entire school of 3,000 students, teachers, AND especially our principal! I believe the gates of Hell bust wide open under the principal's desk in the Main Office like some kind of Stephen King horror novel. I remember one English teacher unabashedly referring to his students as "the Children of the Corn". It was a frightening and horrifying time as I witnessed an entire location of humanity change as if a strange wind had blown through and I was trapped in some weird on-the-job horror flick. To me, it was like going to work everyday to Dracula's Castle. By the way, Stephen King was a high school English teacher before he became a famous writer. So he knows firsthand about what he's writing.
It was uncanny and ironic how Hollywood was just a block away making a movie about the struggle between good vs. evil, the very theme that I had taught over and over every year in my classes. I had absolutely no idea that while I was in the throes of my struggle at the high school that I worked at, at that exact same time, Hollywood was Downtown making a symbolic epic struggle of "The Dark Knight"! If "The Dark Knight" film crew only knew that just a block away from their moviemaking was the Chicago Public Schools Headquarters, containing a treasure trove of chilling stories like the very movies they make, they could go back to Hollywood and crank out even more hits !
Hollywood is in town right now filming Johnny Depp's new movie. If they came with me to the Board of Education, they could find on file a wealth of information and material for their next movies. I wish they would go to my high school and shoot a sequel to "The Shining" because if you could see the school at night in the dead of winter, you would swear you were on the set of "The Shining". I remember telling my bad classes last year that I wish I could get Stephen King and Jack Nicholson to visit our school. There are photos of alumni dating all the way back to 1910 lining the hallways of my school, just like in "The Shining". All you would need is a little kid bigwheeling it down my school's cavernous hallways, and everyone would flee the premises totally freaked out!
Every great movie and every great book has the same message. Whether it's Paradise Lost, Dante's Inferno, Dracula, Pilgrim's Progress, The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, "Gladiator", "Superman", "Star Wars", "The Wizard of Oz", or "Godzilla", the message is always the same: We are in a war. Even Nature and the surroundings reflect the villain's dark soul, such as the eternal darkness and the wild beasts that surrounded Dracula's Castle. I had definitely seen this same struggle and darkness of the soul in the movies "I am Legend" and "Cloverfield". Many of these works also either consciously or unconsciously have Biblical themes and Christ symbols, such as "Superman", the Lion in "The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe", and Dorothy in "The Wizard of Oz". All have the message to stand up, nonetheless, put on your armor, and fight the good fight.
Every moviemaker and writer agree. This world is trying to "kill" you on so many levels. It's trying its best to take each one of us out here, one way or another. However, with the help of God in June 2007 , I victoriously made it "home" like Dorothy in the "Wizard of Oz".
However, it's so tragic that Mr. Ledger wasn't also able to escape his issues that ultimately caused the end of his young, gifted life. What a talent he was! When will we learn that every person is important and EVERY life lost is irreplaceable? No one in ALL of humanity will ever have the same gifts, talents, and beauty of you.
| Posted: 5/9/2008 at 15:36 | Read 512 times | 21 comments | Leave Comment | Report |
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| Your knowledge of Chicago is awesome! | |
| Reply | Comment | Message | Delete | Block | Spam | 12/23/2008 9:02:55 AM | |
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| OUTSTANDING! My home-town is Denver, and the biggest thing that was ever filmed there was the mini-series 'ASTEROID'. | |
| Reply | Comment | Message | Delete | Block | Spam | 12/6/2008 9:18:50 AM | |
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| Awesome!!! I love Chicago. It is my second home and I have to say that there is not a better city to turn into Gotham than Chicago. Nice blog!!! =] | |
| Reply | Comment | Message | Delete | Block | Spam | 7/7/2008 8:10:11 PM | |
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| This is just so awesome! Thanks for putting this blog together, I love it! It's going to feel strange seeing Heath Ledger in a movie since he has passed away. I'm gled it was finished while he was still alive... | |
| Reply | Comment | Message | Delete | Block | Spam | 6/16/2008 9:14:49 PM | |
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| Awsome Photos Makes me want to come on down | |
| Reply | Comment | Message | Delete | Block | Spam | 6/8/2008 9:49:50 AM | |
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| Thanks for the great pictures! I am really looking forward to seeing The Dark Knight! Mickey Rourke was not a bad guess, and he might have been a good choice for the role, too. | |
| Reply | Comment | Message | Delete | Block | Spam | 5/24/2008 10:43:15 AM | |
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Great Blog!!!!  MySpace Graphics & MySpace Layouts | |
| Reply | Comment | Message | Delete | Block | Spam | 5/24/2008 12:54:49 AM | |
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| Hi Joyce Love it ,can't wait to see it! Great job on your blog too. thank you Norris | |
| Reply | Comment | Message | Delete | Block | Spam | 5/23/2008 9:19:10 PM | |
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| Just awesome! | |
| Reply | Comment | Message | Delete | Block | Spam | 5/21/2008 8:15:34 PM | |
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| wow! thats some blog.......normally would give up half way but that was enlightening to say the least. I look forward to this movie like no other, and now, I know a little more about Chicago...BRAVO!!! | |
| Reply | Comment | Message | Delete | Block | Spam | 5/19/2008 6:56:15 PM | |
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| Still one of my favs! | |
| Reply | Comment | Message | Delete | Block | Spam | 5/19/2008 9:59:29 AM | |
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wow, great blog huggable badboy prajak | |
| Reply | Comment | Message | Delete | Block | Spam | 5/18/2008 10:09:14 PM | |
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| WOW! I loved this.. Dark Knight, your my new real life Hero! Oman I hope you make it big!!!! Love & Hugs to you and Joyce too.. Thanks for sharing this awesome video! | |
| Reply | Comment | Message | Delete | Block | Spam | 5/18/2008 9:47:41 PM | |
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| Bravo! Very enthralling. Glad I stopped by. Off to read your other suggested blog about working in a horror film. | |
| Reply | Comment | Message | Delete | Block | Spam | 5/17/2008 11:03:22 AM | |
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| DK blog is awesome! Great photos and info. Well done! | |
| Reply | Comment | Message | Delete | Block | Spam | 5/15/2008 2:52:57 PM | |
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 Girly Comments & Graphics | |
| Reply | Comment | Message | Delete | Block | Spam | 5/14/2008 2:47:19 PM | |
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| I am back!!! I just had to read the completed version...it was wonderful. You have a gift with words!! (I would hope so if you were a teacher of English, LOL) We are in a war...Ephesians tells us about the armor of God and I have the peices memorized. Thank you for the blog...LOVED IT!!! | |
| Reply | Comment | Message | Delete | Block | Spam | 5/14/2008 11:48:53 AM | |
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| Beautifully done Joyce. Those are some awesome photos of your hometown. | |
| Reply | Comment | Message | Delete | Block | Spam | 5/13/2008 2:40:56 PM | |
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| Great read Joyce! I was in Chicago for 1 day (passing through) and loved it! One of my favorite cities, along with Pittsburgh and our own San Francisco. Great job on your blogs! I enjoyed the read! | |
| Reply | Comment | Message | Delete | Block | Spam | 5/13/2008 1:18:36 PM | |
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GREAT JOB ON THE BLOG - YOU DID A FANTASTIC JOB | |
| Reply | Comment | Message | Delete | Block | Spam | 5/12/2008 11:02:33 PM | |
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