Juicy Plot Details Revealed as The Dark Knight Rises Moves to Pittsburgh
Posted 07.12.11 by BrentJS
Fans of acclaimed director Christopher Nolan's revamped Batman movie franchise have been teased (twice) with the promise that the first trailer for his third and final movie in the series, The Dark Knight Rises (TDKR), will debut attached to the opening of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 on July 15th. While it could simply be random chance that Warner Bros. just released the first teaser poster for TDKR, many fans consider it a sign that, come Friday, we will definitely be getting a taste of what Nolan has in store for the Dark Knight.
Meanwhile, some juicy new details about the top-secret plot of the movie have emerged as the production moved to Pittsburgh yesterday in preparation for filming at Carnegie Mellon University (CMU). CMU's official website was recently updated to announce where and when "Magnus Rex" — the codename of the production — will be shooting so that students and faculty would be aware of parking and street closures. Though it has since been edited, the site also initially included details about what will be shot at CMU, details that most likely concern the super-intelligent, super-strong villain of the movie, Bane (Tom Hardy), a convict who plots Batman's (Christian Bale) destruction from prison and then escapes to break the hero's back in the classic "Knightfall" story arc that many believe the movie is (at least partially) based upon.
Here is an excerpt from the CMU website about the production:
Carnegie Mellon will once again play host to Hollywood, when several scenes for a major motion picture by Warner Bros., currently using the working title "Magnus Rex," are filmed outside of the Software Engineering Institute (SEI) in late July, and inside and outside of the Mellon Institute in early August. Carnegie Mellon is working closely with the production company to ensure that the university and its students, faculty and staff will benefit from the movie-making experience with minimal disruption to normal operations.
Scenes will be filmed outside the Software Engineering Institute (SEI) at the intersection of Dithridge and Henry streets from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m., Saturday and Sunday, July 30-31.
Scenes will be filmed outside of the Mellon Institute on the Fifth Ave. side from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m., Sunday, July 31, and inside of the Mellon Institute's fourth-floor entrance lobby on Wednesday and Thursday, Aug. 3-4.
And here's the really interesting stuff that was removed, which seems to imply that CMU will actually be doubling for the prison that Bane will break out of to begin his attack on Batman and Gotham City.
Scenes outside the SEI, which will be portrayed as a prison, will include an explosion, a prison break, precision stunt driving, gunfire, atmospheric smoke, and controlled pyrotechnic explosions.
Scenes outside the Fifth Ave. entrance of Mellon Institute include a standoff between two rivals that escalates into a riot. One character drives a motorcycle through the fourth floor lobby, out the front doors and down the steps onto Fifth Ave. Special effects include precision stunt driving, gunfire and atmospheric smoke.
It is unknown where the production will move to after the CMU shoot. It's likely that it will remain in Pittsburgh and shoot at other locations before moving on to shoot in Los Angeles, New York City, and (possibly) Newark.
Next Showing: The Dark Knight Rises opens July 20, 2012