1-Sep-15 – The winding trip up the spiral parking ramp of Marina City’s west tower has been one-way for fictional bad guys and for a while it looked like a character on Chicago P.D. might meet the same grisly fate.

A television crew spent the day at Marina City on Monday, appearing to set it on fire, toss money onto Dearborn Street, and persuade the suspect, his back to a 183-foot drop and a gun to his head.

NBCUniversal filmed scenes for an upcoming episode of the Chicago Fire spin-off, a drama about uniformed and undercover Chicago Police Department officers. The show’s third season will premier on September 30.

Crew members were in both towers on Monday but most visible on the top two levels of the west tower parking ramp.

(Above) Special effects smoke rolls from about the 19th floor of Marina City’s west tower. Residents and commercial tenants were told the smoke is non-toxic and real Chicago fire and police personnel would supervise the effect. The smoke had no smell, at least from the ground, and quickly dissipated.

(Above) Fake $100 bills explode out and onto Dearborn Street. This stunt was done at least twice, the bills – “play money” made by Learning Resources – rained onto the Dearborn Street Bridge and Chicago River.

(Left) The fake money exploded from the small wedge-shaped object at left, installed at the very edge of the ramp on the 17th floor. It was activated by remote control by the technician at far right.

(Right) On Dearborn Street below, camera operators and a digital cinema camera rented from Keslow Camera in Chicago. (Below left) Closer view of the camera, pulled by a crew member north on the Dearborn Street Bridge.

(Above right) Camera crane on the 19th floor of the parking ramp, photographed by Premier Camera Systems. (Left) On the 18th floor of the west tower, two stunt men perform the scene being rehearsed in the top image, as the camera above films them.

Wyndham guest captures smoke effect on video

(Above) Paul Donovan was staying at Wyndham Grand Chicago Riverfront hotel on August 31. Before he left his hotel room for a few hours, he set up a video camera to capture the sunset over the Chicago River. He did not know until he got back and looked through the video that he had recorded one of the smoke effects.

“After a Google search I discovered that a film company was on location shooting a sequence for an NBC police drama called ‘Chicago PD,’” he posted on YouTube. “Towerblock residents had been notified but I guess other…passersby would have been shocked. In fact, the boat on the river seems to have second thoughts about proceeding!”