Chicago’s fabled architecture has always been catnip for filmmakers. Remember that car’s specta- cular swan-dive from the Marina City parking garage into the Chicago River in Steve McQueen’s “The Hunter” in 1980? Kevin Costner’s encounter with a runaway baby carriage on the Union Station staircase in 1987’s “The Untouchables”? Tom Hanks driving down La Salle Street toward the Board of Trade in 2002’s “Road to Perdition”?
It’s an extra level of pleasure for local moviegoers, who get to see our city (and sometimes our own neighborhood hangouts) on the big screen. But “The Lake House,” the romantic drama starring Keanu Reeves and Sandra Bullock that opens Friday, takes Hollywood’s love affair with Chicago architecture to a new level.
Ready for its closeup
Written by Chicago native David Auburn (best known for his Pulitzer Prize-winning play “Proof,” also set in the Windy City), “The Lake House” takes full advantage of the city’s rich architectural tapestry, paying special attention to the diversity of periods and styles.
“Every great architect from Frank Lloyd Wright and Louis Sullivan to Mies van der Rohe has built in Chicago, and what other city in America gives you all those buildings in close proximity to each other?” says “Lake House” production designer Nathan Crowley, who also used several Chicago locations in last year’s “Batman Begins.”
“Sometimes you go to a city like New York and you feel its greatness, but cinematically, it doesn’t stack up like Chicago does — it’s very, very cinematic,” Crowley says. “And when the story itself is about architects, how could you do better?” (more…)
