Part 2: Transformers 3 Set Destroys Chicago - Pictures and Videos

Photo credit: Christine Bajuyo

In talking to a Production Assistant, the "Transformers 3" destruction of Chicago (i.e. action shots) will continue through the end of July.  Less intense filming will go through late August. 

For Bumble Bee fans, apparently he (yes, speaking about a car) was doing doughnuts on Wacker Drive for several hours today.

Below is a sampling of pictures and videos from this past week.  Be sure to make it to the bottom to check out the videos.  Turn on the volume with the videos so you can hear the gun fire.  

Hopefully more to come next week.

Enjoy and click on images to enlarge!

Photo Credit: Christine Bajuyo

 

 The following pictures take place on Michigan Avenue between Illinois St. and Wacker Dr.

 

  

I spy a Bumble Bee!!

Transformer fire truck on left

 

 

 

 The following pictures take place on Wacker Dr. between Wabash and State St.

 The following pictures are from a prop lot located on Illinois St. across from the AMC theater

And some LOUD videos for your enjoyment ;)

Credit: niXer1010

Credit: Dannyx1014

Credit: jpabst4321

Transformers 3: Chicago set pictures

As you may have seen me tweet earlier in the week, Chicago was given advance notice of street closures due to the filming of "Transformers 3" in the business district.

So, I grabbed my camera and headed out.  The streets where filming takes place are blocked off at least one block away on all sides and filming goes on for about a mile straight.  Catching the actors (Shia LaBeouf, Josh Duhamel) is tricky.  There are no robots to be seen, but the cars that turn into Transformers are roaming the streets (check out the picture below)!  I'm still looking for Optimus Prime and Bumble Bee...  Oh, and with some sleuth city maneuvering, I found the hidden trailer lot.

Apparently LaSalle street is being "blown up" from Lake to Adams.  That's the entire length of the center of our downtown district!

Below are pictures I took over the weekend.  I might get out to catch some more filming, but for now, enjoy the destruction of downtown Chicago.  (P.S. In the early morning hours on July 10th, three base jumpers flew off of the Sears/Willis Tower with helicopters filming overhead.  I was sound asleep, but would have loved to see that!)

 

The following pictures show fake pieces of concrete ripped up from the street.

The following pictures are shots of where the "concrete" was stored the night before the shoot

Here are some prop shots

Look!  It's an actual Transformer car.  License plate: TFORMER1 (or something very similar)

Not sure if the vests are real or not.  They are using actual bombs during filming.

Here are some pictures of all the massive trucks that are prohibiting us from parking downtown!

The coveted trailers.

Below are extra crowd and set pics.  Enjoy!

"Looking for Eric": A Cannes Film Makes it to The Windy City

Joss Barratt/IFC Films 

At the age of 76, and after 46 years in the business, filmmaker Ken Loach remains staunchly committed to his blue-collar roots.
The film critic David Thomson once said he found it easier to respect Loach than to enjoy him, but a happy partnership with the writer Paul Laverty (or perhaps just the advancing years) has softened the director's gaze and sharpened his funny bone. Looking For Eric may be Loach's most accessible film yet, a gruff, touching, frequently hilarious ode to the pressures of family and the salvation of community.

"It's a film against individualism," Loach explains in the film's press notes. "We're stronger as a gang than we are on our own." That sentiment appears so rarely at the multiplex — or anywhere else — these days that it's virtually subversive.
Shot on location in Manchester, the film follows Eric Bishop (Steve Evets, onetime bassist for The Fall), a 40-something mail carrier who is slowly losing his mind. Depressed, prone to panic attacks, he struggles to cope with the two unruly stepsons whose mother bailed seven years earlier.    
"When was the last time you were happy?" asks his NHS-approved shrink, and the answer is clear: 30 years ago, when he and his first wife, Lily (Stephanie Bishop), met as teenagers at a dance contest. A too-soon baby and too-late maturity birthed the first of the panic attacks, and Eric ran; now he and Lily have been thrown together again to help care for their tiny granddaughter, and Eric is a mess.

Read the rest of the review at NPR.org            
"Looking for Eric" opens Friday, May 21st in Chicago

Robert Pattinson: From Blonde Baby to Handsome Heartthrob

From HollywoodNews.com: Robert Pattinson sort of came out of nowhere. Sure, he had a couple films and a short, relatively unnoticed role in Harry Potter (so unnoticed in fact that people objected when he was announced as the actor playing Edward Cullen).
But then “Twilight” hit theaters. Suddenly Rob was and is the world’s heartthrob. Let’s take a look at a few pictures of Rob to find out where this heartthrob came from.

 Here is a cute blond (blond ??) boy. Definite potential as an adult. 

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Ah, the bowl cut. And a serious look. Not much to see here. But check out the nose compared to the first picture. It’s more defined. It’s turning into Rob’s nose.  -------------------------------------

Everyone has their awkward stage. Only RPattz could manage to model during that stage. I don’t find this picture flattering at all (and there are plenty more of his model pics out there), but someone clearly thought he had a look worth paying for. Photo credit: @Legacy62   --------------------------------- Rob’s still young here, but the jawporn is starting to form and we can already see the captivating smile. Here, at a tender age, he’s about to explode. Photo Credit: @Legacy62------------------------------- 

But wait. He reverts back a bit. Rob is still in his awkward stage here, cheeks (and thus jaw) a little fuller, but he’s also in character in this film. The porn hair hasn’t yet materialized. Photo Credit: How To Be Films To see Rob emerge into the RPattz we know today, visit Hollywood.com