Profile: Christopher Nolan (Part 3)
Coinciding with this week’s opening of Inception, here is part 3 of Trevor Hogg’s profile at FlickeringMyth.com on writer-director Christopher Nolan. An excerpt:
In the Warner Bros. issued synopsis for Inception (2010), it states, “Dom Cobb (Leonardo DiCaprio) is a skilled thief, the absolute best in the dangerous art of extraction, stealing valuable secrets from deep within the subconscious during the dream-state, when the mind is most vulnerable.” The document elaborates further explaining that while his abilities make him a coveted corporate espionage operative, they also have made Cobb an international fugitive pursued by a lethal enemy who can predict his every move. “I wanted to do this for a very long time; it’s something I’ve thought about off and on since I was sixteen,” remarked Nolan. “I wrote the first draft of this script seven or eight years ago but it goes back much further, this idea of approaching dreams and the dream life as another state of reality.”
There is a sense of déjà vu associated with the picture as Cobb is also the name of the pivotal apartment burglar in his feature debut Following (1998), and some of the filming took place at the architectural school located at Christopher Nolan’s alma mater, University College London. Influenced by Dark City (1998), The Matrix (1999), The Thirteenth Floor (1999), and Memento (2000), all of which explored the concept “that the world around you might not be real”, Nolan creatively struggled with the screenplay over a ten-year period. The solution arrived when Leonardo DiCaprio (What’s Eating Gilbert Grape) attached himself to the production. “I’ve incorporated a huge number of his ideas,” said the director. “Leo’s very analytical, particularly from the character point of view but also on how the entire story is going to function and relate to his character…I think it’s improved the project enormously. The emotional life of the character now drives the story more than it did before.”
Impressed with Christopher Nolan’s previous films, especially Insomnia (2002) and Memento, Leonardo DiCaprio was a willing collaborator. “Complex and ambiguous are the perfect way to describe the story,” said DiCaprio. “And it’s going to be a challenge to ultimately pull it off. But that is what Chris Nolan specializes in. He has been able to convey really complex narratives that work on a multitude of different layers simultaneously…and make it entertaining and engaging throughout.” Pressed to explain the project which has been shrouded in secrecy, Nolan replied, “The film deals with levels of reality, and perceptions of reality which is something I’m very interested in. It’s an action film set in a contemporary world but with a slight science fiction bent to it.”
Shot in Tokyo, Los Angeles, London, Paris, Tangier, and Calgary, the $160 million production features Batman alumni Cillian Murphy (The Wind That Shakes the Barley), Ken Watanabe (Memoirs of a Geisha), and Michael Caine (Get Carter) along with newcomers Joseph Gordon-Levitt (The Lookout), Marion Cotillard (Public Enemies), Ellen Page (Juno), Tom Hardy (Bronson), Tom Berenger (Platoon), Dileep Rao (Drag Me to Hell), and Lukas Haas (Music Box). “It’s like reading a Haruki Murakami novel, it’s fantasy, but instead of feeling like some strange surreal world it feels very honest,” stated Page, who plays the rookie member of Cobb’s select team of subconscious infiltrators. “The emotional spine of the story is there too, which is key to his movies. There’s the big scale but the sincerity isn’t left behind. The story is complicated but never confusing.”
For the rest, go here.
Here is Part 1 of the profile.
Here is Part 2.
UPDATE: Inception opening weekend box office above earlier projections: $60.4M. Extremely strong performance. Now to see how good the movie’s buzz and word-of-mouth is. Could a movie this complex do $250M? $300M? $500M?