Masked marvel: Pittsburgh readies for a remake as Gotham City
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During the filming of "The Dark Knight Rises," the final installment of director Chris Nolan's trilogy of Batman movies, Pittsburgh will undergo a temporary metamorphosis.
After shedding its identity as a hulking steel town to become a center of medical and technical innovation, the city is about to don an even newer mask: Gotham City.
Speaking in a Welsh accent, Christian Bale, the masked star of the Dark Knight series, told a news conference Thursday that there will be "fighting on the streets" during filming. (Just what merchants want to hear.) For his part, Mr. Nolan felt compelled to apologize in advance for the disruptions that will come from shooting over the next several weeks.
Pittsburgh Film Office Director Dawn Keezer deserves much of the credit for putting the city in a position where one of filmdom's hottest directors apologizes for plowing millions of dollars into the local economy this summer. As problems go, that's a nice one to have.
Ironically, "The Dark Knight Rises" doesn't qualify for the state's film-making tax credit because it will not spend 60 percent of its production budget in Pennsylvania. But the project will benefit from the network of professionals in place from 102 previous productions filmed here.
At the press event, Gov. Tom Corbett praised the movie tax credit, which was retained in the new state budget, despite deep cuts on other fronts. He said that, while the credit has its foes, he insisted that it stay as one of Pennsylvania's business incentives.
Thanks to the kind of talent, work environment and incentives that have drawn movie productions to the region for years, Pittsburgh is ready for its closeup as Gotham City. And that bat signal up in the sky is looking more like a giant dollar sign.
First Published August 1, 2011 12:00 am
