MAGNUS REX PART 1

Living in Los Angeles there's ample opportunities to visit film sets...but there will only be one more Batman film directed by Christopher Nolan. Enter...THE DARK KNIGHT RISES, "the epic conclusion to the Dark Knight legend" (as the teaser so aptly puts it).  When I heard that I would be in town in time to see some of the filming of this spectacular film, I was extremely excited.  I thought maybe I'd get the opportunity to see a Gotham Police car or maybe a Batmobile at best.  The things I've seen though have exceeded my hopes and expectations.  It's been a wild ride...and there's still nearly a month left.

To do this entry properly, I've decided to divide it into parts, and within those parts, I'll divide it into the days I spent visiting the set. 

DAY 1. 

My first day visiting the set was the shoot at the 3rd Street Tunnel in Downtown LA.  The 3rd and 4th Street Tunnels have been used in many film shoots over their long history, including in the Terminator franchise.  Most of the streets were blocked off for this location shoot, but I started getting excited as soon as I saw the smoking wreckage of Gotham PD cars piled up outside the tunnel and the "Magnus Rex" crew signs and trailers.  Magnus Rex, "A futuristic dinosaur film with Paulie Shore and Carrot Top" is the alias for The Dark Knight Rises, to not draw attention to the project.  Not much to see from the first night I visited...still enough to pique my interest though. 

DAY 2. 

My second day on set still ranks as one of my favorites so far. I returned to the 3rd Street Tunnel location only to find that they had slightly moved over into an adjacent blocked off parking garage. Nothing online had been posted or known about this particular shoot, and the only way to get at it was through the parking garage of the West Promenade Hotel.  Then I came upon these Batpods...

I was able to snap this pic quickly before the PA told me no pictures.  This kind of startled me, but I'm used to PAs attempting to assert some kind of authority (of which they have none) at this point.  From the West Promenade 4th floor Balcony was able to get a good look at the shoot in the parking garage across the street. I was treated to a look at Anne Hathaway doing some takes saving a boy from a thug and Christopher Nolan directing her to do so. There were also piles of destroyed GPD cars outside the 3rd street tunnel.  After the shooting we saw Christian Bale leaving the set.

DAY 3. 
The filming moved on day 3 to Sante Fe and the 6th street tunnel location.  This was a good day...

The mysterious new vehicle of the movie, The Batwing was out in full view underneath the 6th street bridge. Hundreds of cops and squad cars stormed into the tunnel after it as we watched a few takes. Christopher Nolan was at the helm of the IMAX camera like the captain of a ship. 

To the right of the set was a wall of fake rubble and destruction on wheels. 

My fellow onlookers and I watched patiently before I had to call it a day. I returned the next day and got a clearer pic of the tunnel where they were shooting. A pedestrian access tunnel...but I had no idea what all this scene would entail yet. 

 

DAY 4. 

DAY 5. 
This was a long day, one of the longest ones I put into the shoot. A rewarding one though, and the first time I got to see Christian Bale in the batsuit on set. When I first arrived, they were doing takes of the Batwing swinging under the bridge o its cables and firing mortars extremely loudly.  They did this six or seven times and then started shooting dialogue under the bridge.  It was an unrewarding business trying to get picture of any of this. Christian Bale sat in the batsuit getting his makeup applied about 100 feet from me and I was able to get an extremely clear view of the whole process.  When he walks around on set in the cape and cowl, there's a certain magnetism to his presence and you just know it--he's Batman.  The difference between Bale and a stuntman is instantly clear just in the way he carries himself on set. A platform of ice was built under the 6th Street Bridge where the dialogue scenes were shot.

While I'd already seen great things on my 5 days on set, the best was yet to come...and it might still be yet.