Car chases used to be a staple of action movies, but lately motorcyles have been stealing the show. Every superhero seems to have one — Batman's (Christian Bale) homemade "Bat-Pod" helped him run down the Joker (Heath Ledger) in The Dark Knight, and gave Catwoman (Anne Hathaway) some much-needed firepower in The Dark Knight Rises; Captain America (Chris Evans) took on goose-stepping HYDRA agents astride a customized Harley-Davidson Cross Bones in Captain America: The First Avenger, while The Green Hornet's Kato (Jay Chou) fought crime on a Harley-Davidson V-Rod — and badass grrls like Salt's title character (Angelina Jolie) and The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo's Lisbeth Salander (Rooney Mara) prefer them.
Ever wondered where all of those awesome big screen bikes come from and where they go after the movie is wrapped? We recently got a sneak peek behind the scenes of movie motorcycles courtesy of Billy Hammon and Picture Car Warehouse, which not only provides motorcycles for various movies, but modifies and customizes them so that they will "take on a life of their own" on screen. From the futuristic desert war machines ridden by the vampire-hunting Priests in Priest, to the massive, ornate skulls-and-flames chopper conjured by Nicolas Cage in Ghost Rider, Hammon says that the goal is to make the motorcycles "their own characters," regardless of who is riding them.
The latest entertainment headlines weekdays 5:30p ET / 2:30p PT