To say I am a Batman fan is an understatement. Growing up, I had the costume, the action figures, the sleeping bag and the toys. I used to parade around my house, leaping down stairs singing “Na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-BATMAN” in full bat costume. My first prayer was for a Batman towel set to complete my collection (I’m not proud of that).

So when my brother, Ben, told me that the latest Batman film by Christopher Nolan, “The Dark Knight Rises” was looking for extras in Pittsburgh, it didn’t take me long to clear my calendar and round up my entire family (father, mother, brother, older sister and her husband) to join me.

What awaited us was explosive.

The location was Heinz Field in Pittsburgh. The scene was a football match between the Gotham City Rogues and the Rapid City Monuments. The experience was unforgettable.

Dressed up in our black-and-yellow gear (the Rogues’ colors) complete with winter coats, scarves, hats and T-shirts each emblazoned with a letter that spelt GO ROGUES, the Hatmaker horde was ready to go bright and early Saturday morning.

We had to be at a shuttle stop at 7:30 a.m. in order to catch a school bus taking the extras to Heinz Field. Once there it was a shuffling game. Shuffle through this line, fill out paperwork, shuffle to the next line, shuffle to the stands, shuffle to the seats.

We were placed in the middle of the sidelines with a perfect view of the camera crews, actors and Steelers players (as the Rogues’ team) below. The left of the field looked like a disaster zone, the goal post had fallen, cones were in disarray, and a huge part had been lifted from the ground.

That’s when I knew, really knew, that this was going to be awesome.

It was also painful.

About an hour after we sat down, the heavens broke and rain pelted us for a good 30 minutes.

Christopher Nolan, the director of the film, was a champ though. While the football players fled for shelter, Nolan stayed cool, put on his raincoat (although he didn’t bother with the hood) and continued to work on getting the right camera angles and directing the crew.

We extras simply huddled under umbrellas, trying desperately to stay a little bit dry.

When it stopped raining, the sun came to dry us off. Which was nice, until it wasn’t.

The scene was meant to be winter, but the weather was decidedly summer. Which meant every moment between takes people were shrugging off layers of clothing, using their umbrellas as parasol and desperately trying to find a way to stay cool.

Extra should really be short for “extra-long wait,” because that was the majority of what we did.

We had arrived at the stadium at 7:45 a.m., we left the filming at 7 p.m. In between was approximately five hours of cumulative wait time as they rehearsed shots, set up cameras or rigged the stadium with explosives.

When we were in action our tasks varied from singing to the national anthem, cheering on Hines Ward during kick-off, and attempting to flee the stadium after 60 explosions went off.

The futile attempts to run away were definitely my favorite moments. Evil villain Bane (played by Tom Hardy) infiltrated the stadium with his military-style thugs, who keep the crowd at bay with guns.

Despite the fact that we knew the guns were fake and that we shared jokes with the actors during break times, when the director yelled “Action!” they suddenly became terrifying. So we screamed, we ran, we crouched down or tried to climb fences.

Halfway through the filming, I braved conversation with the fiercely painted gentlemen next to me, David Detweiler and Carl Wolf, only to find out they had also made the trek from Harrisburg to Pittsburgh just for the weekend.

Barista by day at Cornerstone Coffee, Detweiler from Harrisburg majored in film at the University of Vermont. He had made a movie himself, so he was familiar with the film-making process and had come prepared for the long waiting required to be an extra.

But a great part for him was seeing Baines in action. “It was truly exciting to see this guy in the flesh,” he said. “And he was massive. Truly larger than life.”

“Tom Hardy addressing the audience - that was awesome,” said Harrisburg resident Wolf. “He was actually as charming as his characters are in the movies, with the exception of Bane”

The best thing about the filming, though, was definitely being part of the movie, a piece of cinematic history. “Even though it’s just being a face in the crowd,” Detweiler said.

“I know a lot of people would be like, I can’t wait to see myself in the movie but I’m just really - being able to watch the entire scene broken down it’ll be really cool to see how they bring it all together,” Wolf said. “Just knowing they did this in this shot and they did that in that shot is really cool.”

“It kind of sucks that we have to wait a whole year to see it, but I guess it’s worth it.”

“It was an amazing opportunity and I’m glad that we took it,” Wolf said. “It’s going to be awesome to know that I’ll be part of probably one of the biggest movies ever made.”

And when that year comes around I know that I, for one, will be in that line for the IMAX midnight showing of The Dark Knight Rises. And Wolf and Detweiler? Chances are, they’ll be in the line too.

Until then, we all have a few tokens to remember the filming by. A pair of earplugs, yellow towels and our “red badges of courage,” as Detweiler called them. A swollen calf from a hasty leap down aisles is mine, a hurt forearm is Detweiler’s and a punctured hand from a frenzied fence climb is Wolf’s.

Best souvenirs ever.