IMAX projectionist brings Dark Knight to screen

The MinnPost profiles Rodney Johnson, projection manager at the Minnesota Zoo’s Great Clips IMAX Theatre, and takes a look at how The Dark Knight gets to the local IMAX screen:

IMAX superhero Rodney Johnson at work in his “cave.” MinnPost photo by Rob Nelson.

Johnson spent seven hours last week splicing together the 45 reels of film (!) that collectively make up the giga-screen version of the two-and-a-half-hour “Dark Knight.”

Now contained on a single spool in the theater’s projection booth — otherwise known as Johnson’s bat cave — the oversized celluloid is nine-and-a-half miles long and weighs 450 pounds.

. . .

Good thing he doesn’t have to lift it. But Johnson will need to emulate the Dark Knight’s sleep schedule, since the projectionist will be literally running the show until just past dawn. The 12:01 a.m. screening has been sold out for days, and Johnson reports that tickets are indeed selling for, uh, the 3:15 a.m. presentation.

How will this ordinary guy prepare for such a spectacular feat? Will he wear a cape for the occasion?

“I’ll probably just take a nap before midnight,” he says with a smile.

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