Dark Knight Trilogy

52. Heinz Field

Chicago, IL

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Everyone please rise for the National Anthem. Sung by eleven year old C.J. Coyner, the National Anthem rang through the stadium during Gotham's final moments before chaos ensued. Home to the Pittsburgh Steelers, the Heinz Field, located on North Shore Drive, was transformed into the home stadium for the Gotham Rogues in The Dark Knight Rises. It's no coincidence the Rogue colors matched the black and yellow of the Steelers and that members of the championship team were weaved throughout the fictional football league. Two current players, Ben Roethslisberger and Hines Ward, a retired coach, and former coach director were active team players for the Gotham Rogues. Pittsburgh Mayor Luke Ravensthal played kicker for the opposing team, giving the initial kick that was received and played by Ward, who ran the full length of the field as the ground crumbled behind him. Real explosives made from sixty or more bombs were used on the Heinz Field causing minimal damage to the old turf that was scheduled for replacement before the new season. Beneath the famous slippery grass is a system containing antifreeze and hot water that heats the field during cold weather maintaining a 62 degree temperature. The field was iced over, however, to host the 2011 National Hockey League Winter Classics. An impressive structure built along the Ohio River in the North Side of Pittsburgh, the stadium had 12,000 tons of steel incorporated into it's construction to pay tribute to the city's infamous history of steel production. Named for the locally based H.J. Heinz company, the stadium emphasizes the name with two thirty five feet ketchup bottles bordering one of the largest score boards in a football stadium. Having a successful streak of selling out all of the 65,000 seats available for every home game, the stadium appeared deserted when filmmaker Nolan called for only 11,000 to fill the stands. Using digital techniques and the patience of thousands of unpaid extras, Nolan was able to fill the stadium with Gotham Rogue fans supporting their home team in the seemingly chilly weather. Asked to bring jackets and sport the Steelers, and Rogues, colors many extras were treated for heat exhaustion in the simulated cold environment during the climbing temperatures of the August weather. Working long hours with little excitement throughout the day, the extras were given a full blast when the radical Bane appeared on the field, following a massive explosion, and surrounded by Tumblers and armed men. Making his first public appearance in Gotham, Bane wins the crowd by initiating a time limit to their lives in Gotham, informing it's citizens of the nuclear bomb timing down it's inevitable detonation.