The Dark Knight Rises TDKR Filming Personal Stories

This thread is to be a collection of personal stories connected to the filming of TDKR, whether you were a ninja, extra, crew member, or observer.

I will supply two examples.

When I was visiting potential graduate schools in August, my mother and I spent a few hours trying to watch filming. We went from checkpoint to checkpoint and met disappointment. After baking in the sun for an hour, we stepped into Macy's to cool off with the air conditioning and a Coke. We were going to leave the city, when we found the main entrance inaccessible. Security told us they had closed off the street for filming, so we were diverted out of the side entance.

Behold was one of the Tumblers and a police officer who did not care that people were filming and taking pictures. I ended up less than five feet away from the Tumbler. And, I was anle to watch and document a section of the chase scene involving Bane's truck and remaining Tumbler.

When we left, we ended up redirected yet again, and found ourselves on the street across from Nolan amd Pfister, who were setting up another shot! I could not believe it! The moments I watched Nolan at work was akin to watching Monet paint water lillies.

Another: I was an unpaid extra for the Heinz Field shoot. I remember riding the bus to the stadium and listening to the excited chatter about what was going to happen.
One guy joked, " Yep, the big reveal's gonna be the Joker popping out of the ground and going, 'why so serious?'"

Of course, the darker part of the day happened when my friend became ill with symptoms of a heat stroke and had to go the medical center, since the upper section of the stadium was locked, due to a wedding inside the dining hall, disrupting the slow and already underprovisioned water supply.

But, it turned out to be worth it, as the person said to me after the general premiere last night, " It was worth it. We were part of something special, even if we are indistinguishable heads in the crowd. The memory of being there is a treasure."

Anyone else have any stories?