Well I'm not sure I would do it again.
We left home around 10pm and joined the queue for Megabus in some dark parking lot under a 7-storey banner for Captain America. The bus was chock-a-block and we found seats up the front. Sleep came surprisingly easy and we only woke to buy candy at the first rest stop. We arrived in Pittsburgh at 7am the next morning and found ourselves abandoned in the middle of a new city. Somehow I had acquired some particularly nasty insect bites on my ankle, arm and chest which were driving me nuts and Timon was struggling to get his knee working again after such a long, cramped evening. Nothing appeared to be open so we wandered down Penn Ave in search of coffee and breakfast. I was taken aback by how neat the city looked. It almost looked like a film set. The streets were wider than we're used to and the buildings had very square, clean facades. It was exciting to be out of New York, even more so when we realised that things were cheaper in the PA. We found ourselves at the entrance to a shopping arcade that boasted an open food court. We headed upstairs (not before passing a sign for a Toonseum, animation museum, that looked interesting) and found bacon, eggs, potato hash and biscuits for breakfast, accompanied by some very weak coffee. We killed time in the food court, reading local free newspapers and doing crosswords, until life was spotted in the streets outside.
We made our way along Liberty Ave and passed a group of miserable old people protesting outside a Planned Parenthood clinic. They had giant placards of dead babies and were trying to hand out pamphlets of hateful rhetoric. I've never seen protesters like this in the flesh and it made my blood BOIL. While I am staunchly pro-choice I have to remind myself that everyone has the right to their opinion and beliefs and some people don't share mine. I just find it so hard to stomach when those beliefs are imposed on others (but would I feel differently if the protesters were supporting my belief?). It's definitely a sticky subject that I wrestle with in my mind but ultimately I guess the whole thing just makes me sad. As do giant pictures of dead babies.
I called the hotel and asked if they could accommodate us checking in 5 hours early. They were obliging so we hailed a taxi and crossed the river. Our taxi driver was a gem and reminded me how refreshing it is to have a taxi driver who knows where he is going, is familiar with city landmarks and is not trying to screw you. He gave us unprompted suggestions on things to do and the directions to get there. And it cost $7. Brilliant. We checked in, turned on the telly and Timon napped for an hour while I watched a wedding show marathon. I woke him at noon and we braved the heat on a quest to ride the Monongahela Incline. These ancient cable cars are a form of public transport in the city and they carry you up the steepest of hills on a pulley system. The view is great but it was a little bit scary for the weak at heart (Timon). In an attempt to escape the sun we took some quick pics and went straight back down. We found a sad, half empty shopping centre that housed a Chinese restaurant, cigar shop, tourist crap shop and a decent looking pub/bar. We ate like kings, ordering a pile of appetisers and the first of many cheap drinks (mojito - $6.50). Back at the hotel we had a lazy dip in the pool/spa and then crashed, waking up at 10pm briefly before setting the alarm for 5.30am and going back to sleep.
We ordered a taxi in plenty of time the next morning but of course, it never came. We hitched a ride with the hotel shuttlebus driver and promptly got stuck in some crazy early Saturday morning traffic. It turned out that all the yellow school buses we were seeing were the Bat-Shuttles organised to take extras from the meeting place to the film set. I was pretty excited to ride on one as I'm sure it will be my one and only chance. We had all our paperwork ready when we arrived and we were quickly hustled through security checks and form signing to the inner field (at Heinz Field). We were given brown paper bags with a cookie, granola bar, sunscreen, water and a yellow handkerchief. We also snagged a free 5-hour energy shooter. Our first seats were right behind the goals on one end. Unfortunately we were seated in between 2 groups of obnoxious nerds who felt the need to comment on EVERYTHING and were often WRONG but thought they were right. Grrrrrrrr. Timon spotted director Christopher Nolan at the far end of the field, dressed smartly in a chinos, blue shirt and navy blazer. After running through the first scene of a young boy singing the national anthem we were moved to the left side of the field, into the seats we would have all day.
SPOILER ALERT ***
I had obeyed all the rules and left my camera at home in New York. However once we were not required to complete a confidentiality agreement of any kind I felt slightly validated in the sneaky pics I took with my phone. The quality is not great and it's hard to convey how cool the field looked - check out this guys blog for better photos. The far end of the football turf was raised and rocky like an explosion had lifted it and the goal post was twisted and bent to the ground. As we were given earplugs in our welcome kit there was no doubt that explosions would occur. It rained for the first half an hour of shooting and everyone huddled under umbrellas. We would huddle for the next 11 hours but under the sharp, penetrating glare of a 110degree sun. They filmed the national anthem scene a few times, getting crowd involvement shots as we all held our hand to our hearts and sang. Then the Gotham Rogues and Rapid City Monuments football teams came out and were filmed in their line-up. Some Pittsburgh Steelers players were amongst the Rogues although I have no idea who they were. The mayor of Pittsburgh was invited to be a part of the kick-off scene and his average football skills were booed by the crowd. The most exciting and interactive part for us was after lunch when we were instructed to react to an explosion on the field. As we screamed and tried to escape our seats armed mercenaries ran down the aisles, stopping everyone in their tracks. We were told to freeze and turn our attention to a spot on the field where 'a very bad man' would be speaking to us. BANE!!! They also previewed the explosion by setting up a small charge in the middle of the grass. Out came 3 Tumblers (new style batmobile/tanks) which drove around and thrilled the crowd. The big explosion of the day was 60 charges covered in pieces of turf which went off all at once. There were no flames bu the noise was thundering. I'm pretty excited to see the finished product, once the special effects team have had their way.
The most exciting part for me was when Tom Hardy, Bane himself came out onto the field and did his short scene. He spoke through a microphone stolen from a dead ref and his henchmen dragged out a large metal ball bomb looking thing. Tom came over to our side of the ground afterwards and thanked everyone for coming. Neither Timon or I won any of the hundred+ raffle prizes which was a little disappointing. We also didn't catch a free t-shirt that was flung into the crowd (but then again we didn't try). The crowd got pretty antsy and grouchy by the end of the day, screaming for free t-shirts and memorabilia. The sun was intense, the waiting was tedious and putting our winter coats on was torturous. Despite multiple layers of sunscreen I managed to get a burnt face and hands. The food was pretty heinous - a hot dog, salty pretzel and microwaved burger - but the water was plentiful and cold. They also handed out icypoles in the afternoon.
Half of the 10,000+ crowd left before the end of the day but it still took us an hour to get back on the shuttle buses and drive to Downtown. Timon and I searched for an open restaurant and found ourselves in a tiny jazz bar eating spectacular jambalaya and drinking wine. We had some time to kill before jumping on the bus home so we found that Toonseum and enjoyed some awesome framed cover art and comic panels as well as Walt Disney's original desk. We both slept uncomfortably on the bus and arrived back in Manhattan to grey clouds and drizzle. I showered the last 36 hours of sweaty grime off and slept for the next 5 hours.
I'm sure with a little time I will look back on this experience and realise it's awesomeness. The weather was truly brutal and I don't think anyone escaped the day without a degree of heat-stroke. There wasn't as much "action" as we would have liked but it was a real eye-opener in regards to the goings-on at a film set. It was sad not to see Batman but Bane was a nice consolation prize. I think there is a .00001 percent chance that you'll see us on the big screen but you'll always know (and we'll always remind you) that we were there.
No comments:
Post a Comment