Faithful X-Boards member El Eshoo was once again present at the set of Chris Nolan’s The Dark Knight in downtown Chicago and sent in the following report along with lots of photos of the action:

I had a chance to watch/gawk at some filming of Batman (Sunday, Aug 12th) at the 330 North Wabash Building. They had several different vehicles out there (Gotham Police Dept, Gotham News Vans, Military vehicles, Bomb Squad truck, etc.) which was cool to see. But I’d say the best of all: I was lucky enough to be 10 feet from Christopher Nolan, Aaron Eckhart and Mr. Bruce Wayne himself … Christian Bale! They were filming some “Press Conference” stuff in the lobby of 330 earlier in the day, broke for lunch around 1:00-ish and then filmed some more “Press Conference” stuff.

Then they brought in some Army-type guys along with camouflaged Hummers and Trucks with machine-gunners to shoot some Helicopter fly-bys. They closed down a SHITLOAD of areas for this (police stopping traffic from Michigan Ave to LaSalle), not allowing anyone in the area (no foot traffic aloud during fly-bys down Chicago River towards lake) and were even heavier on the NO PICTURES crap. The choppers came pretty low as they passed over the courtyard outside of 330 North Wabash where military and Gotham press people were all around. Cameras on the ground were filming the fly-bys.

Here’s some shots I took (Nothing fantastic):

These first 2 pics are from Saturday Night
(which is why I’m able to take it with no people):

First thing I saw as I walked up on the set Sunday morning:

Gotham News Vans:

View from across the street from 330 North Wabash
(tarps covered most of view):

My sad attempt at getting Harvey Dent/Aaron Eckhart
(PA’s were stopping EVERY person with a camera that day):

Some Military Vehicles
(I noted that they were Chicago License Plates; not Gotham like the rest):

Gotham Bomb Squad
(not sure if this even got filmed that day):

My “shot-by-shot” of one of the low Helicopter Fly-bys
(which was kinda cool):

Also, there are some more (better) pics at this link (you can see Christian Bale in them).

The Batman Begins sequel is scheduled for a July 18, 2008 release.

Discuss The Dark Knight on the X-Boards

Posted by Tai in Batman, Movies • Add to del.icio.us Add to Digg