November 23, 2011 – Plano, IL
The new Superman movie, The Man of Steel, will be released in December of 2012. The town of Plano, Illinois has gone through a dramatic change. Hollywood and the Warner Brothers mega million-dollar production has come to a normally very quiet rural down – In the Superman comic, the town of Smallville is an important piece of the puzzle. To the producer and director of Superman, Plano, IL represents the perfect Smallville.
Filming for a portion of the movie was recently completed in Plano. This small but growing rural community 50 miles west of downtown Chicago was transformed into a Metropolis for a couple of weeks in August. The historical downtown district was closed to business while the movie was being filmed.
Sections of the town were temporarily changed to incorporate a barbershop, bank, fake 7-11 and other stores. As you can see from the pictures, they are just “storefronts” built in front of a structure that consisted of 20′ portable storage containers stacked and lashed in place three high.
So you may ask yourself why shipping containers? And what do they have to do with Superman? Well, shipping containers are as strong as superman himself. They are made to be stacked 8 or 9 tall loaded with cargo. The structure of the container when lashed down is capable of withstanding Category 5 hurricanes with ease. It has been reported even that during very powerful tornados, portable storage containers if secured to the ground are the only structures that survive. Portable storage containers have been used on countless movie and television sets for many different reasons. Often the shipping containers serve as a backdrop to create an industrial setting. They can easily be arranged like building blocks to create an ideal setting. They can also be used as portable structures, such as in Superman. The portability gives a non-permanent structure that can be set up quickly and efficiently. In addition to being convenient, they are also affordable.
The twenty-four (24) 20ft portable storage containers were supplied by Great Lakes Kwik Space, Aurora, IL. Great Lakes Kwik Space was happy to provide a solution for the Superman set and are pleased to hear that the movie created a positive economic impact for the local community in Plano, IL.
By the way, the fake 7-11 store gets blown up, (the shipping containers remain safe) and half the “town” gets destroyed… but we think Superman will prevail.
Author: Geoff Fargo, Container Alliance Co. gfargo@containeralliance.com
