'Superman' comes to Chicago, bringing $30 million with him

Tue, 13 Sep 2011 19:24:00 -0500

Superman is wrapping up his stay in Chicago this weekend, but he received a visit from Illinois Governor Pat Quinn before he left.

The governor was at the set of the new Man of Steel movie in downtown Chicago Tuesday, for a tour and a meet-and-greet with some cast members, including Superman himself, played by Henry Cavill.

Quinn said that the film industry raised $161 million dollars for Illinois in 2010.

"The amount of investment by Man of Steel in the state of Illinois is $30-35 million," said Quinn. "So the investment of the tax credit pays tremendous dividends, it's more than worth it's while."

That money can be attributed to the 30 percent tax credit Illinois offers for money spent on goods and services in-state. Man of Steel reportedly created over 550 jobs in Illinois for crew members, not including those local Chicago actors hired for smaller parts and as extras.

The Quinn administration has included the tax credit as part of their effort to increase revenue from filmmaking in Chicago. Under the governor's administration, the state invested $5 million into the building of Cinespace Chicago Film Studios, where the short-lived show The Chicago Code was filmed. It's been replaced by projects like Boss and The Playboy Club.

Betsy Steinberg, managing director for the Illinois Film Office, said that she spends her time in Los Angeles, "pounding the pavement, trying to get projects" to come to Illinois.

Man of Steel also used the Kendall County town of Plano, outside of Chicago, as the location for their town of Smallville. The interest in Illinois was spurred, in part, by executive producer Charles Rosen, who has a history with the city; he also shot the previous two Batman films here, Batman Begins and The Dark Knight, both starring Christian Bale.

Speaking about his visit to the set, Quinn said, "I had a chance to meet Henry, he's our Superman, and he will be a super man, that's for sure."

The Man of Steel comes to downtown Chicago

Wed, 07 Sep 2011 22:00:00 -0500

The newest Superman movie "Man of Steel" began filming in Chicago on Wednesday. The project has made stops in a few areas around Chicago-- spending the last two weeks in the far western suburbs, and landing downtown in the Loop this week.

Betsy Steinberg, managing director for the Illinois Film Office, said big movies projects like this one have the potential to boost the state's economy.

"A caterer is feeding several hundred people a day, several times a day, they're shopping in our local grocery stores. Carpenters, painters, welders, are building set pieces, they're shopping in our lumber yards, they're buying our hardware, so the ripple effect in the economy is really great and that's why we work so hard to try and get projects here," Steinberg said.

As for other details about the project, Steinberg said everything -- especially the movie script -- is being kept under lock and key. Filmmakers are still referring to the project with a code name -- "Autumn Frost." Steinberg said this is fairly common for major film projects, and most of the time the code name has nothing to do with the actual movie.

Filming will continue in downtown Chicago for the next 10 days. Chicagoans should be on the look out for Amy Adams, Henry Cavill, Russell Crowe, Diane Lane and Kevin Costner, who will all be starring in the film.

WBEZ | Man of Steel

'Superman' comes to Chicago, bringing $30 million with him

The Man of Steel comes to downtown Chicago