Jump to content

Inception

This is a good article. Click here for more information.
Page semi-protected
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
(Redirected from Dom Cobb)
This article is about the 2010 film. For other uses, see Inception (disambiguation).

Inception
A man in a suit with a gun in his right hand is flanked by five other individuals in the middle of a street which, behind them, is folded upwards. Leonardo DiCaprio's name and those of other cast members are shown above the words "Your Mind Is the Scene of the Crime". The title of the film "INCEPTION", film credits, and theatrical and IMAX release dates are shown at the bottom.
Theatrical release poster
Directed byChristopher Nolan
Written byChristopher Nolan
Produced by
Starring
CinematographyWally Pfister
Edited byLee Smith
Music byHans Zimmer
Production
companies
Distributed byWarner Bros. Pictures
Release dates
  • July 8, 2010 (2010-07-08) (Odeon Leicester Square)
  • July 16, 2010 (2010-07-16) (United States and United Kingdom)
Running time
148 minutes[1]
Countries
  • United States[2]
  • United Kingdom[2]
LanguageEnglish
Budget$160 million[3]
Box office$839 million[3]

Inception is a 2010 science fiction action heist film[4][5][6][7] written and directed by Christopher Nolan, who also produced it with Emma Thomas, his wife. The film stars Leonardo DiCaprio as a professional thief who steals information by infiltrating the subconscious of his targets. He is offered a chance to have his criminal history erased as payment for the implantation of another person's idea into a target's subconscious.[8] The ensemble cast includes Ken Watanabe, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Marion Cotillard, Elliot Page,[a] Tom Hardy, Cillian Murphy, Tom Berenger, Dileep Rao, and Michael Caine.

After the 2002 completion of Insomnia, Nolan presented to Warner Bros. a written 80-page treatment for a horror film envisioning "dream stealers," based on lucid dreaming.[9] Deciding he needed more experience before tackling a production of this magnitude and complexity, Nolan shelved the project and instead worked on 2005's Batman Begins, 2006's The Prestige, and 2008's The Dark Knight.[10] The treatment was revised over six months and was purchased by Warner in February 2009.[11] Inception was filmed in six countries, beginning in Tokyo on June 19 and ending in Canada on November 22.[12] Its official budget was $160 million, split between Warner Bros. and Legendary.[13] Nolan's reputation and success with The Dark Knight helped secure the film's US$100 million in advertising expenditure.

Inception's premiere was held in London on July 8, 2010; it was released in both conventional and IMAX theaters beginning on July 16, 2010.[14][15] Inception grossed over $837 million worldwide, becoming the fourth-highest-grossing film of 2010. Considered one of the best films of the 2010s,[16] Inception won four Oscars (Best Cinematography, Best Sound Editing, Best Sound Mixing, Best Visual Effects) and was nominated for four more (Best Picture, Best Original Screenplay, Best Art Direction, Best Original Score) at the 83rd Academy Awards.

Plot

Dom Cobb and Arthur are "extractors" who perform corporate espionage using experimental dream-sharing technology to infiltrate their targets' subconscious and extract information. Their latest target, Saito, is impressed with Cobb's ability to layer multiple dreams within each other. He offers to hire Cobb for the ostensibly impossible job of implanting an idea into a person's subconscious; performing "inception" on Robert Fischer, the son of Saito's competitor Maurice Fischer, with the idea to dissolve his father's company. In return, Saito promises to clear Cobb's criminal status, allowing him to return home to his children.

Cobb accepts the offer and assembles his team: a forger named Eames, a chemist named Yusuf, and a college student named Ariadne. Ariadne is tasked with designing the dream's architecture, something Cobb himself cannot do for fear of being sabotaged by his mind's projection of his late wife, Mal. Maurice Fischer dies, and the team sedates Robert Fischer into a three-layer shared dream on an airplane to America bought by Saito. Time on each layer runs slower than the layer above, with one member staying behind on each to perform a music-synchronized "kick" (using the French song "Non, je ne regrette rien") to awaken dreamers on all three levels simultaneously.

The team abducts Robert in a city on the first level, but his trained subconscious projections attack them. After Saito is wounded, Cobb reveals that while dying in the dream would usually awaken dreamers, Yusuf's sedatives will instead send them into "Limbo": a world of infinite subconscious. Eames impersonates Robert's godfather, Peter Browning, to introduce the idea of an alternate will to dissolve the company.

Cobb tells Ariadne that he and Mal entered Limbo while experimenting with dream-sharing, experiencing fifty years in one night due to the time dilation with reality. After waking up, Mal still believed she was dreaming. Attempting to "wake up," she committed suicide and framed Cobb for her murder to force him to do the same. Cobb fled the U.S., leaving his children behind.

Yusuf drives the team around the first level as they are sedated into the second level, a hotel dreamed by Arthur. Cobb persuades Robert that Browning has kidnapped him to stop the dissolution and that Cobb is a defensive projection, leading Robert to another third level deeper as part of a ruse to enter Robert's subconscious.

In the third level, the team infiltrates an alpine fortress with a projection of Maurice inside, where the inception itself can be performed. However, Yusuf performs his kick too soon by driving off a bridge, forcing Arthur and Eames to improvise a new set of kicks synchronized with them hitting the water by rigging an elevator and the fortress, respectively, with explosives. Mal then appears and kills Robert before he can be subjected to the inception, and he and Saito are lost in Limbo, forcing Cobb and Ariadne to rescue them in time for Robert's inception and Eames's kick. Cobb reveals that during their time in Limbo, Mal refused to return to reality; Cobb had to convince her it was only a dream, accidentally incepting in her the belief that the real world was still a dream. Cobb makes peace with his part in Mal's death. Ariadne kills Mal's projection and wakes Robert up with a kick.

Revived into the third level, he discovers the planted idea: his dying father telling him to create something for himself. While Cobb searches for Saito in Limbo, the others ride the synced kicks back to reality. Cobb finds an aged Saito and reminds him of their agreement. The dreamers all awaken on the plane, and Saito makes a phone call. Arriving in Los Angeles, Cobb passes the immigration checkpoint, and his father-in-law accompanies him to his home. Cobb uses Mal's "totem" – a top that spins indefinitely in a dream – to test if he is indeed in the real world, but he chooses not to observe the result and instead joins his children.

Cast

A man in a black suit, a woman in a pink dress, a man in a plaid suit, a woman in a black dress, a Japanese man in a black suit, and an old man in a blue suit clap their hands, while a man in a black suit stands. A microphone stand is in the foreground, and blue curtains are in the background.
The cast at a premiere for the film in July 2010. From left to right: Cillian Murphy, Marion Cotillard, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Elliot Page, Ken Watanabe, Michael Caine, and Leonardo DiCaprio
  • Leonardo DiCaprio as Dom Cobb, a professional thief who specializes in conning secrets from his victims by infiltrating their dreams. DiCaprio was the first actor to be cast in the film.[17] Both Brad Pitt and Will Smith were offered the role, according to The Hollywood Reporter.[18] Cobb's role is compared to "the haunted widower in a Gothic romance".[19]
  • Ken Watanabe as Saito, a Japanese businessman who employs Cobb for the team's mission. Nolan wrote the role with Watanabe in mind, as he wanted to work with him again after Batman Begins.[20]: 10  Inception is Watanabe's first work in a contemporary setting where his primary language is English. Watanabe tried to emphasize a different characteristic of Saito in every dream level: "First chapter in my castle, I pick up some hidden feelings of the cycle. It's magical, powerful and then the first dream. And back to the second chapter, in the old hotel, I pick up [being] sharp and more calm and smart and it's a little bit [of a] different process to make up the character of any movie".[21]
  • Joseph Gordon-Levitt as Arthur, Cobb's partner who manages and researches the missions. Gordon-Levitt compared Arthur to the producer of Cobb's art, "the one saying, 'Okay, you have your vision; now I'm going to figure out how to make all the nuts and bolts work so you can do your thing'".[20]: 7  The actor did all but one of his stunt scenes and said the preparation "was a challenge and it would have to be for it to look real".[22] James Franco was in talks with Christopher Nolan to play Arthur, but was ultimately unavailable due to scheduling conflicts.[23]
  • Marion Cotillard as Mal, Cobb's deceased wife. She is a manifestation of Cobb's guilt about the real cause of Mal's suicide. He is unable to control these projections of her, challenging his abilities as an extractor.[24] Nolan described Mal as "the essence of the femme fatale," and DiCaprio praised Cotillard's performance, saying that "she can be strong and vulnerable and hopeful and heartbreaking all in the same moment, which was perfect for all the contradictions of her character".[20]
  • Elliot Page[a] as Ariadne, a graduate student of architecture who is recruited to construct the various dreamscapes, which are described as mazes. The name Ariadne alludes to a princess of Greek myth, daughter of King Minos, who aided the hero Theseus by giving him a sword and a ball of string to help him navigate the labyrinth which was the prison of the Minotaur. Nolan said that Page was chosen for being a "perfect combination of freshness and savvy and maturity beyond [his] years".[20]: 8  Page said their character acts as a proxy to the audience, as "she's just learning about these ideas and, in essence, assists the audience in learning about dream sharing".[25]
  • Tom Hardy as Eames, a sharp-tongued associate of Cobb. He is referred to as a fence but his specialty is forgery, more accurately identity theft. Eames uses his ability to impersonate others inside the dream world in order to manipulate Fischer. Hardy described his character as "an old, Graham Greene-type diplomat; sort of faded, shabby, grandeur—the old Shakespeare lovey mixed with somebody from Her Majesty's Special Forces", who wears "campy, old money" costumes.[26]
  • Cillian Murphy as Robert Fischer, the heir to a business empire and the team's target.[20]: 10  Murphy said Fischer was portrayed as "a petulant child who's in need of a lot of attention from his father, he has everything he could ever want materially, but he's deeply lacking emotionally". The actor also researched the sons of Rupert Murdoch, "to add to that the idea of living in the shadow of someone so immensely powerful".[27]
  • Tom Berenger as Peter Browning, Robert Fischer's godfather and fellow executive at the Fischers' company.[28] Berenger said Browning acts as a "surrogate father" to Fischer, who calls the character "Uncle Peter", and emphasized that "Browning has been with [Robert] his whole life and has probably spent more quality time with him than his own father".[20]: 11 
  • Michael Caine as Stephen Miles, Cobb's mentor and father-in-law,[20]: 11  and Ariadne's college professor who recommends her to the team.[29]
  • Dileep Rao as Yusuf. Rao describes Yusuf as "an avant-garde pharmacologist, who is a resource for people, like Cobb, who want to do this work unsupervised, unregistered and unapproved of by anyone". Co-producer Jordan Goldberg said the role of the chemist was "particularly tough because you don't want him to seem like some kind of drug dealer", and that Rao was cast for being "funny, interesting and obviously smart".[20]: 11 
  • Lukas Haas as Nash, an architect in Cobb's employment who betrays the team and is later replaced by Ariadne.[30]
  • Talulah Riley as a woman, credited as "Blonde", whom Eames disguises himself as in a dream. Riley liked the role, despite it being minimal: "I get to wear a nice dress, pick up men in bars, and shove them in elevators. It was good to do something adultish. Usually I play 15-year-old English schoolgirls."[31]
  • Pete Postlethwaite as Maurice Fischer, Robert Fischer's father and the dying founder of a business empire.

Production

Development

Emma Thomas and Christopher Nolan answer questions about Inception. The husband-and-wife team produced the film through their company Syncopy. Nolan also wrote and directed it.

Initially, Christopher Nolan wrote an 80-page treatment about dream-stealers.[9] Nolan had originally envisioned Inception as a horror film,[9] but eventually wrote it as a heist film even though he found that "traditionally [they] are very deliberately superficial in emotional terms."[32] Upon revisiting his script, he decided that basing it in that genre did not work because the story "relies so heavily on the idea of the interior state, the idea of dream and memory. I realized I needed to raise the emotional stakes."[32]

Nolan worked on the script for nine to ten years.[17] When he first started thinking about making the film, Nolan was influenced by "that era of movies where you had The Matrix (1999), you had Dark City (1998), you had The Thirteenth Floor (1999) and, to a certain extent, you had Memento (2000), too. They were based in the principles that the world around you might not be real."[32][33]

Nolan first pitched the film to Warner Bros. in 2001, but decided that he needed more experience making large-scale films, and embarked on Batman Begins and The Dark Knight.[10] He soon realized that a film like Inception needed a large budget because "as soon as you're talking about dreams, the potential of the human mind is infinite. And so the scale of the film has to feel infinite. It has to feel like you could go anywhere by the end of the film. And it has to work on a massive scale."[10] After making The Dark Knight, Nolan decided to make Inception and spent six months completing the script.[10] Nolan said that the key to completing the script was wondering what would happen if several people shared the same dream. "Once you remove the privacy, you've created an infinite number of alternative universes in which people can meaningfully interact, with validity, with weight, with dramatic consequences."[34]

Nolan had been trying to work with Leonardo DiCaprio for years and met him several times, but was unable to recruit him for any of his films until Inception.[24] DiCaprio finally agreed because he was "intrigued by this concept—this dream-heist notion and how this character's going to unlock his dreamworld and ultimately affect his real life."[35]: 93–94  He read the script and found it to be "very well written, comprehensive but you really had to have Chris in person, to try to articulate some of the things that have been swirling around his head for the last eight years."[10] DiCaprio and Nolan spent months talking about the screenplay. Nolan took a long time re-writing the script in order "to make sure that the emotional journey of his [DiCaprio's] character was the driving force of the movie."[17] On February 11, 2009, it was announced that Warner Bros. purchased Inception, a spec script written by Nolan.[11]

Locations and sets

Principal photography began in Tokyo on June 19, 2009, with the scene in which Saito first hires Cobb during a helicopter flight over the city.[9][20]: 13 

The production moved to the United Kingdom and shot in a converted airship hangar in Cardington, Bedfordshire, north of London.[20]: 14  There, the hotel bar set which tilted 30 degrees was built.[36]: 29  A hotel corridor was also constructed by Guy Hendrix Dyas, the production designer, Chris Corbould, the special effects supervisor, and Wally Pfister, the director of photography; it rotated a full 360 degrees to create the effect of alternate directions of gravity for scenes set during the second level of dreaming, where dream-sector physics become chaotic. The idea was inspired by a technique used in Stanley Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968). Nolan said, "I was interested in taking those ideas, techniques, and philosophies and applying them to an action scenario".[36]: 32  The filmmakers originally planned to make the hallway only 40 feet (12 m) long, but as the action sequence became more elaborate, the hallway's length was increased to 100 ft (30 m). The corridor was suspended along eight large concentric rings that were spaced equidistantly outside its walls and powered by two massive electric motors.[20]: 14 

Joseph Gordon-Levitt, who plays Arthur, spent several weeks learning to fight in a corridor that spun like "a giant hamster wheel".[32] Nolan said of the device, "It was like some incredible torture device; we thrashed Joseph for weeks, but in the end we looked at the footage, and it looks unlike anything any of us has seen before. The rhythm of it is unique, and when you watch it, even if you know how it was done, it confuses your perceptions. It's unsettling in a wonderful way".[32] Gordon-Levitt remembered, "it was six-day weeks of just, like, coming home at night battered ... The light fixtures on the ceiling are coming around on the floor, and you have to choose the right time to cross through them, and if you don't, you're going to fall."[37] On July 15, 2009, filming took place at University College London for the sequences occurring inside a Paris college of architecture in the story,[9] including the library, Flaxman Gallery and Gustav Tuck Theatre.[38]

Filming moved to France, where they shot Cobb entering the college of architecture (the place used for the entrance was the Musée Galliera) and the pivotal scenes between Ariadne and Cobb, in a bistro (a fictional one set up at the corner of Rue César Franck and Rue Bouchut), and lastly on the Bir-Hakeim bridge.[20]: 17  For the explosion that takes place during the bistro scene, local authorities would not allow the use of real explosives. High-pressure nitrogen was used to create the effect of a series of explosions. Pfister used six high-speed cameras to capture the sequence from different angles and make sure that they got the shot. The visual effects department enhanced the sequence, adding more destruction and flying debris. For the "Paris folding" sequence and when Ariadne "creates" the bridges, green screen and CGI were used on location.[20]: 17 

Tangier, Morocco, doubled as Mombasa, where Cobb hires Eames and Yusuf. A foot chase was shot in the streets and alleyways of the historic medina quarter.[20]: 18  To capture this sequence, Pfister employed a mix of hand-held camera and steadicam work.[20]: 19  Tangier was also used as the setting for filming an important riot scene during the initial foray into Saito's mind.

Filming moved to the Los Angeles area, where some sets were built on a Warner Bros. sound stage, including the interior rooms of Saito's Japanese castle (the exterior was done on a small set built in Malibu Beach). The dining room was inspired by the historic Nijō Castle, built around 1603. These sets were inspired by a mix of Japanese architecture and Western influences.[20]: 19 

The production staged a multi-vehicle car chase on the streets of downtown Los Angeles, which involved a freight train crashing down the middle of a street.[20]: 20  To do this, the filmmakers configured a train engine on the chassis of a tractor trailer. The replica was made from fiberglass molds taken from authentic train parts and matched in terms of color and design.[20]: 21  Also, the car chase was supposed to be set in the midst of a downpour, but the L.A. weather stayed typically sunny. The filmmakers set up elaborate effects (e.g., rooftop water cannons) to give the audience the impression that the weather was overcast and soggy. L.A. was also the site of the climactic scene where a Ford Econoline van runs off the Schuyler Heim Bridge in slow motion.[39] This sequence was filmed on and off for months, with the van being shot out of a cannon, according to actor Dileep Rao. Capturing the actors suspended within the van in slow motion took a whole day to film.

Once the van landed in the water, the challenge for the actors was to avoid panic. "And when they ask you to act, it's a bit of an ask," explained Cillian Murphy.[39] The actors had to be underwater for four to five minutes while drawing air from scuba tanks; underwater buddy breathing is shown in this sequence.[39]

Cobb's house was in Pasadena. The hotel lobby was filmed at the CAA building in Century City. 'Limbo' was made on location in Los Angeles and Morocco, with the beach scene filmed at Palos Verdes beach with CGI buildings. N Hope St. in Los Angeles was the primary filming location for 'Limbo,' with green screen and CGI being used to create the dream landscape.

The final phase of principal photography took place in Alberta in late November 2009. The location manager discovered a temporarily closed ski resort, Fortress Mountain.[20]: 22  An elaborate set was assembled near the top station of the Canadian chairlift, taking three months to build.[35]: 93  The production had to wait for a huge snowstorm, which eventually arrived.[9] The ski-chase sequence was inspired by Nolan's favorite James Bond film, On Her Majesty's Secret Service (1969): "What I liked about it that we've tried to emulate in this film is there's a tremendous balance in that movie of action and scale and romanticism and tragedy and emotion."[35]: 91 

Cinematography

The film was shot primarily in the anamorphic format on 35 mm film, with key sequences filmed on 65 mm, and aerial sequences in VistaVision. Nolan did not shoot any footage with IMAX cameras as he had with The Dark Knight. "We didn't feel that we were going to be able to shoot in IMAX because of the size of the cameras because this film given that it deals with a potentially surreal area, the nature of dreams and so forth, I wanted it to be as realistic as possible. Not be bound by the scale of those IMAX cameras, even though I love the format dearly".[17] In addition Nolan and Pfister tested using Showscan and Super Dimension 70 as potential large-format, high-frame-rate camera systems to use for the film, but ultimately decided against either format.[36]: 29  Sequences in slow motion were filmed on a Photo-Sonics 35 mm camera at speeds of up to 1,000 frames per second. Wally Pfister tested shooting some of these sequences using a high speed digital camera, but found the format to be too unreliable due to technical glitches. "Out of six times that we shot on the digital format, we only had one usable piece and it didn't end up in the film. Out of the six times we shot with the Photo-Sonics camera and 35 mm running through it, every single shot was in the movie."[40] Nolan also chose not to shoot any of the film in 3D as he prefers shooting on film[17] using prime lenses, which is not possible with 3D cameras.[41] Nolan has also criticized the dim image that 3D projection produces, and disputes that traditional film does not allow realistic depth perception, saying "I think it's a misnomer to call it 3D versus 2D. The whole point of cinematic imagery is it's three dimensional... You know 95% of our depth cues come from occlusion, resolution, color and so forth, so the idea of calling a 2D movie a '2D movie' is a little misleading."[42] Nolan did test converting Inception into 3D in post-production but decided that, while it was possible, he lacked the time to complete the conversion to a standard he was happy with.[9][42] In February 2011 Jonathan Liebesman suggested that Warner Bros. were attempting a 3D conversion for Blu-ray release.[43]

Wally Pfister gave each location and dream level a distinctive look to aid the audience's recognition of the narrative's location during the heavily crosscut portion of the film: the mountain fortress appears sterile and cool, the hotel hallways have warm hues, and the scenes in the van are more neutral.[36]: 35–36 

Nolan has said that 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", while also describing it as "very much an ensemble film structured somewhat as a heist movie. It's an action adventure that spans the globe".[44]

Visual effects

For dream sequences in Inception, Nolan used little computer-generated imagery, preferring practical effects whenever possible. Nolan said, "It's always very important to me to do as much as possible in-camera, and then, if necessary, computer graphics are very useful to build on or enhance what you have achieved physically."[20]: 12  To this end, visual effects supervisor Paul Franklin built a miniature of the mountain fortress set and then blew it up for the film. For the fight scene that takes place in zero gravity, he used CG-based effects to "subtly bend elements like physics, space and time."[45]

The most challenging effect was the "Limbo" city level at the end of the film, because it continually developed during production. Franklin had artists build concepts while Nolan expressed his ideal vision: "Something glacial, with clear modernist architecture, but with chunks of it breaking off into the sea like icebergs".[45] Franklin and his team ended up with "something that looked like an iceberg version of Gotham City with water running through it."[45] They created a basic model of a glacier and then designers created a program that added elements like roads, intersections and ravines until they had a complex, yet organic-looking, cityscape. For the Paris-folding sequence, Franklin had artists producing concept sketches and then they created rough computer animations to give them an idea of what the sequence looked like while in motion. Later during principal photography, Nolan was able to direct DiCaprio and Page based on this rough computer animation that Franklin had created. Inception had nearly 500 visual effects shots (in comparison, Batman Begins had approximately 620), which is relatively few in comparison to contemporary effects-heavy films, which can have as many as 2,000 visual effects shots.[45]

Music

Main article: Inception: Music from the Motion Picture

The score for Inception was written by Hans Zimmer,[28] who described his work as "a very electronic,[46] dense score",[47] filled with "nostalgia and sadness" to match Cobb's feelings throughout the film.[48] The music was written simultaneously to filming,[47] and features a guitar sound reminiscent of Ennio Morricone, played by Johnny Marr, former guitarist of the Smiths. Édith Piaf's "Non, je ne regrette rien" ("No, I Regret Nothing") appears throughout the film, used to accurately time the dreams, and Zimmer reworked pieces of the song into cues of the score.[48] A soundtrack album was released on July 11, 2010, by Reprise Records.[49] The majority of the score was also included in high resolution 5.1 surround sound on the second disc of the two-disc Blu-ray release.[50] Hans Zimmer's music was nominated for an Academy Award in the Best Original Score category in 2011, losing to Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross of The Social Network.[51]

Themes

Reality and dreams

A staircase in a square format. The stairs make four 90-degree turns in each corner, so they are in the format of a continuous loop.
Penrose stairs are incorporated into the film as an example of the impossible objects that can be created in lucid dream worlds.

In Inception, Nolan wanted to explore "the idea of people sharing a dream space... That gives you the ability to access somebody's unconscious mind. What would that be used and abused for?"[17] The majority of the film's plot takes place in these interconnected dream worlds. This structure creates a framework where actions in the real or dream worlds ripple across others. The dream is always in a state of production, and shifts across the levels as the characters navigate it.[52] By contrast, the world of The Matrix (1999) is an authoritarian, computer-controlled one, alluding to theories of social control developed by thinkers Michel Foucault and Jean Baudrillard. However, according to one interpretation Nolan's world has more in common with the works of Gilles Deleuze and Félix Guattari.[52]

David Denby in The New Yorker compared Nolan's cinematic treatment of dreams to Luis Buñuel's in Belle de Jour (1967) and The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie (1972).[53] He criticized Nolan's "literal-minded" action level sequencing compared to Buñuel, who "silently pushed us into reveries and left us alone to enjoy our wonderment, but Nolan is working on so many levels of representation at once that he has to lay in pages of dialogue just to explain what's going on." The latter captures "the peculiar malign intensity of actual dreams."[53]

Deirdre Barrett, a dream researcher at Harvard University, said that Nolan did not get every detail accurate regarding dreams, but their illogical, rambling, disjointed plots would not make for a great thriller anyway. However, "he did get many aspects right," she said, citing the scene in which a sleeping Cobb is shoved into a full bath, and in the dream world water gushes into the windows of the building, waking him up. "That's very much how real stimuli get incorporated, and you very often wake up right after that intrusion."[54]

Nolan himself said, "I tried to work that idea of manipulation and management of a conscious dream being a skill that these people have. Really the script is based on those common, very basic experiences and concepts, and where can those take you? And the only outlandish idea that the film presents, really, is the existence of a technology that allows you to enter and share the same dream as someone else."[32]

Dreams and cinema

Others have argued that the film is itself a metaphor for filmmaking, and that the filmgoing experience itself, images flashing before one's eyes in a darkened room, is akin to a dream. Writing in Wired, Jonah Lehrer supported this interpretation and presented neurological evidence that brain activity is strikingly similar during film-watching and sleeping. In both, the visual cortex is highly active and the prefrontal cortex, which deals with logic, deliberate analysis, and self-awareness, is quiet.[55] Paul argued that the experience of going to a picturehouse is itself an exercise in shared dreaming, particularly when viewing Inception: the film's sharp cutting between scenes forces the viewer to create larger narrative arcs to stitch the pieces together. This demand of production parallel to consumption of the images, on the part of the audience is analogous to dreaming itself. As in the film's story, in a cinema one enters into the space of another's dream, in this case Nolan's, as with any work of art, one's reading of it is ultimately influenced by one's own subjective desires and subconscious.[52] At Bir-Hakeim bridge in Paris, Ariadne creates an illusion of infinity by adding facing mirrors underneath its struts, Stephanie Dreyfus in la Croix asked "Is this not a strong, beautiful metaphor for the cinema and its power of illusion?"[56]

Cinematic technique

See also: Cinematic style of Christopher Nolan

Genre

Nolan combined elements from several different film genres into the film, notably science fiction, heist film, and film noir. Marion Cotillard plays "Mal" Cobb, Dom Cobb's projection of his guilt over his deceased wife's suicide. As the film's main antagonist, she is a frequent, malevolent presence in his dreams. Dom is unable to control these projections of her, challenging his abilities as an extractor.[24] Nolan described Mal as "the essence of the femme fatale",[20]: 9  the key noir reference in the film. As a "classic femme fatale" her relationship with Cobb is in his mind, a manifestation of Cobb's own neurosis and fear of how little he knows about the woman he loves.[57] DiCaprio praised Cotillard's performance saying that "she can be strong and vulnerable and hopeful and heartbreaking all in the same moment, which was perfect for all the contradictions of her character".[20]: 10 

Nolan began with the structure of a heist movie, since exposition is an essential element of that genre, though adapted it to have a greater emotional narrative suited to the world of dreams and subconscious.[57] As Denby described this device: "the outer shell of the story is an elaborate caper".[53] Kristin Thompson argued that exposition was a major formal device in the film. While a traditional heist movie has a heavy dose of exposition at the beginning as the team assembles and the leader explains the plan, in Inception this becomes nearly continuous as the group progresses through the various levels of dreaming.[58] Three quarters of the film, until the van begins to fall from the bridge, are devoted to explaining its plot. In this way, exposition takes precedence over characterization. The characters' relationships are created by their respective skills and roles. Ariadne, like her ancient namesake, creates the maze and guides the others through it, but also helps Cobb navigate his own subconscious, and as the sole student of dream sharing, helps the audience understand the concept of the plot.[59]

Nolan drew inspiration from the works of Jorge Luis Borges,[9][60] including "The Secret Miracle" and "The Circular Ruins",[61] and from the films Blade Runner (1982) and The Matrix (1999).[61][62] While Nolan has not confirmed this, it has also been suggested by many observers that the movie draws heavy inspiration from the 2006 animated film Paprika.[63][64][65]

Ending

The film cuts to the closing credits from a shot of the top apparently starting to show an ever so faint wobble, inviting speculation about whether the final sequence was reality or another dream. Nolan confirmed that the ambiguity was deliberate,[57] saying, "I've been asked the question more times than I've ever been asked any other question about any other film I've made... What's funny to me is that people really do expect me to answer it."[66] The film's script concludes with "Behind him, on the table, the spinning top is STILL SPINNING. And we—FADE OUT".[67] Nolan said, "I put that cut there at the end, imposing an ambiguity from outside the film. That always felt the right ending to me—it always felt like the appropriate 'kick' to me... The real point of the scene—and this is what I tell people—is that Cobb isn't looking at the top. He's looking at his kids. He's left it behind. That's the emotional significance of the thing."[66]

Caine interpreted the ending as meaning that Cobb is in the real world, quoting Nolan as telling him "'Well, when you're in the scene, it's reality.' So get that — if I'm in it, it's reality. If I'm not in it, it's a dream". While reiterating that he was uncomfortable with definitively explaining the scene, Nolan in 2023 credited Emma Thomas as providing "the correct answer, which is Leo's character ... doesn't care at that point".[68] Mark Fisher argued that "a century of cultural theory" cautions against accepting the author's interpretation as anything more than a supplementary text, and this all the more so given the theme of the instability of any one master position in Nolan's films. Therein the manipulator is often the one who ends up manipulated, and Cobb's "not caring" about whether or not his world is real may be the price of his happiness and release.[69]

Release

Marketing

Warner Bros. spent US$100 million marketing the film. Although Inception was not part of an existing franchise, Sue Kroll, president of Warner's worldwide marketing, said the company believed it could gain awareness due to the strength of "Christopher Nolan as a brand". Kroll declared that "We don't have the brand equity that usually drives a big summer opening, but we have a great cast and a fresh idea from a filmmaker with a track record of making incredible movies. If you can't make those elements work, it's a sad day."[70] The studio also tried to maintain a campaign of secrecy—as reported by the Senior VP of Interactive Marketing, Michael Tritter, "You have this movie which is going to have a pretty big built in fanbase... but you also have a movie that you are trying to keep very secret. Chris [Nolan] really likes people to see his movies in a theater and not see it all beforehand so everything that you do to market that—at least early on—is with an eye to feeding the interest to fans."[71]

A viral marketing campaign was employed for the film. After the revelation of the first teaser trailer, in August 2009, the film's official website featured only an animation of Cobb's spinning top. In December, the top toppled over and the website opened the online game Mind Crime, which upon completion revealed Inception's poster.[72] The rest of the campaign unrolled after WonderCon in April 2010, where Warner gave away promotional T-shirts featuring the PASIV briefcase used to create the dream space, and had a QR code linking to an online manual of the device.[73] Mind Crime also received a stage 2 with more resources, including a hidden trailer for the movie.[74] More pieces of viral marketing began to surface before Inception's release, such as a manual filled with bizarre images and text sent to Wired magazine,[75] and the online publication of posters, ads, phone applications, and strange websites all related to the film.[76][77] Warner also released an online prequel comic, Inception: The Cobol Job.[78]

The official trailer released on May 10, 2010, through Mind Game was extremely well received.[74] It featured an original piece of music, "Mind Heist", by recording artist Zack Hemsey,[79] rather than music from the score.[80] The trailer quickly went viral with numerous mashups copying its style, both by amateurs on sites like YouTube[81] and by professionals on sites such as CollegeHumor.[82][83] On June 7, 2010, a behind-the-scenes featurette on the film was released in HD on Yahoo! Movies.[84]

Inception and its film trailers are widely credited for launching the trend throughout the 2010s in which blockbuster movie trailers repeatedly hit audiences with so-called "braam" sounds: "bassy, brassy, thunderous notes—like a foghorn on steroids—meant to impart a sense of apocalyptic momentousness".[85] However, different composers worked on the teaser trailer, first trailer, second trailer, and film score, meaning that identifying the composer(s) responsible for that trend is a complicated task.[85]

Home media

Inception was released on DVD and Blu-ray on December 3, 2010, in France,[86] and the week after in the UK and USA (December 7, 2010).[87][88] The film was released on VHS in South Korea, making it one of the last major studio films released for the format.[89] Warner Bros. also made available in the United States a limited Blu-ray edition packaged in a metal replica of the PASIV briefcase, which included extras such as a metal replica of the spinning top totem. With a production run of less than 2,000, it sold out in one weekend.[90] Inception was released on 4K Blu-ray and digital copy along with other Christopher Nolan films on December 19, 2017.[91] As of 2018, the home video releases have sold over 9 million units and grossed over $160 million.[92]

Putative video game

In a November 2010 interview, Nolan expressed his intention to develop a video game set in the Inception world, working with a team of collaborators. He described it as "a longer-term proposition", referring to the medium of video games as "something I've wanted to explore".[93]

10th anniversary re-release

Inception was re-released in theaters for its tenth anniversary, starting on August 12, 2020, in international markets and on August 21 in the U.S.[94] The re-release was originally announced by Warner Bros. in June 2020 and scheduled for July 17, 2020, taking the original release date for Nolan's upcoming film Tenet after its delay to July 31 due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on movie theaters.[95] After Tenet was delayed again to August 12, the re-release was shifted to July 31,[96] before setting on the August release date following a third delay.[94]

Reception

Box office

Film Release date Box office revenue Box office ranking Budget Reference
United States North America International Worldwide All-time domestic All-time worldwide
Inception July 2010 US$292,587,330 US$578,205,319 US$839,030,630 No. 109 No. 80 US$160,000,000 [97]

Inception was released in both conventional and IMAX theaters on July 16, 2010.[98][99] The film had its world premiere at Leicester Square in London on July 8, 2010.[100] In the United States and Canada, Inception was released theatrically in 3,792 conventional theaters and 195 IMAX theaters.[98] The film grossed US$21.8 million during its opening day on July 16, 2010, with midnight screenings in 1,500 locations.[101] Overall the film made US$62.7 million and debuted at No.1 on its opening weekend.[102] Inception's opening weekend gross made it the second-highest-grossing debut for a science fiction film that was not a sequel, remake or adaptation, behind Avatar's US$77 million opening-weekend gross in 2009.[102] The film held the top spot of the box office rankings in its second and third weekends, with drops of just 32% (US$42.7 million) and 36% (US$27.5 million), respectively,[103][104] before dropping to second place in its fourth week, behind The Other Guys.[105]

Inception initially grossed US$292 million in the United States and Canada, US$56 million in the United Kingdom, Ireland and Malta and US$479 million in other countries for a total of US$828 million worldwide.[3] Its five highest-grossing markets after the US and Canada (US$292 million) were China (US$68 million), the United Kingdom, Ireland and Malta (US$56 million), France and the Maghreb region (US$43 million), Japan (US$40 million) and South Korea (US$38 million).[106] It was the sixth-highest-grossing film of 2010 in North America,[107] and the fourth-highest-grossing film of 2010, behind Toy Story 3, Alice in Wonderland and Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 1.[108] Its subsequent re-releases increased its gross to US$839 million.[3] Inception is the fourth most lucrative production in Christopher Nolan's career—behind The Dark Knight, The Dark Knight Rises and Oppenheimer[109]—and the second most for Leonardo DiCaprio—behind Titanic.[110]

Critical response

On Rotten Tomatoes, Inception holds an approval rating of 87% based on 370 reviews, with an average rating of 8.20/10. The website's critical consensus reads: "Smart, innovative, and thrilling, Inception is that rare summer blockbuster that succeeds viscerally as well as intellectually."[111] Metacritic, another review aggregator, assigned the film a weighted average score of 74 out of 100, based on 42 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".[112] Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B+" on an A+ to F scale.[113]

Peter Travers of Rolling Stone called Inception a "wildly ingenious chess game," and concluded "the result is a knockout."[114] Justin Chang of Variety praised the film as "a conceptual tour de force" and wrote, "applying a vivid sense of procedural detail to a fiendishly intricate yarn set in the labyrinth of the unconscious mind, the writer-director has devised a heist thriller for surrealists, a Jungian's Rififi, that challenges viewers to sift through multiple layers of (un)reality."[115] Jim Vejvoda of IGN rated the film as perfect, deeming it "a singular accomplishment from a filmmaker who has only gotten better with each film."[116] Relevant's David Roark called it Nolan's "greatest accomplishment", saying, "Visually, intellectually and emotionally, Inception is a masterpiece."[117]

In its August 2010 issue, Empire gave the film a full five stars and wrote, "it feels like Stanley Kubrick adapting the work of the great sci-fi author William Gibson [...] Nolan delivers another true original: welcome to an undiscovered country."[118] Entertainment Weekly's Lisa Schwarzbaum gave the film a B+ grade and wrote, "It's a rolling explosion of images as hypnotizing and sharply angled as any in a drawing by M. C. Escher or a state-of-the-biz video game; the backwards splicing of Nolan's own Memento looks rudimentary by comparison."[119] Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times awarded the film a full four stars and said that Inception "is all about process, about fighting our way through enveloping sheets of reality and dream, reality within dreams, dreams without reality. It's a breathtaking juggling act."[120] Richard Roeper, also of the Sun-Times, gave Inception an "A+" score and called it "one of the best movies of the [21st] century."[121] BBC Radio 5 Live's Mark Kermode named Inception as the best film of 2010, stating that "Inception is proof that people are not stupid, that cinema is not trash, and that it is possible for blockbusters and art to be the same thing."[122]

Michael Phillips of the Chicago Tribune gave the film 3 out of 4 stars and wrote, "I found myself wishing Inception were weirder, further out [...] the film is Nolan's labyrinth all the way, and it's gratifying to experience a summer movie with large visual ambitions and with nothing more or less on its mind than (as Shakespeare said) a dream that hath no bottom."[123] Time's Richard Corliss wrote that the film's "noble intent is to implant one man's vision in the mind of a vast audience [...] The idea of moviegoing as communal dreaming is a century old. With Inception, viewers have a chance to see that notion get a state-of-the-art update."[124] Kenneth Turan of the Los Angeles Times felt that Nolan was able to blend "the best of traditional and modern filmmaking. If you're searching for smart and nervy popular entertainment, this is what it looks like."[125] USA Today's Claudia Puig gave the film three-and-a-half out of four stars and felt that Nolan "regards his viewers as possibly smarter than they are—or at least as capable of rising to his inventive level. That's a tall order. But it's refreshing to find a director who makes us stretch, even occasionally struggle, to keep up."[126]

Not all reviewers gave the film positive reviews. New York magazine's David Edelstein said in his review that he had "no idea what so many people are raving about. It's as if someone went into their heads while they were sleeping and planted the idea that Inception is a visionary masterpiece and—hold on ... Whoa! I think I get it. The movie is a metaphor for the power of delusional hype—a metaphor for itself."[127] The New York Observer's Rex Reed said the film's development was "pretty much what we've come to expect from summer movies in general and Christopher Nolan movies in particular ... [it] doesn't seem like much of an accomplishment to me."[128] A. O. Scott of The New York Times commented "there is a lot to see in Inception, there is nothing that counts as genuine vision. Mr. Nolan's idea of the mind is too literal, too logical, and too rule-bound to allow the full measure of madness."[129] The New Yorker's David Denby considered the film to be "not nearly as much fun as Nolan imagined it to be", concluding that "Inception is a stunning-looking film that gets lost in fabulous intricacies, a movie devoted to its own workings and to little else."[53]

While some critics have tended to view the film as perfectly straightforward, and even criticize its overarching themes as "the stuff of torpid platitudes", online discussion has been much more positive.[130] Heated debate has centered on the ambiguity of the ending, with many critics like Devin Faraci making the case that the film is self-referential and tongue-in-cheek, both a film about film-making and a dream about dreams.[131] Other critics read Inception as Christian allegory and focus on the film's use of religious and water symbolism.[132] Yet other critics, such as Kristin Thompson, see less value in the ambiguous ending of the film and more in its structure and novel method of storytelling, highlighting Inception as a new form of narrative that revels in "continuous exposition".[58]

Several critics and scholars have noted the film has many striking similarities to the 2006 anime film Paprika by Satoshi Kon (and Yasutaka Tsutsui's 1993 novel of the same name), including plot similarities, similar scenes, and similar characters, arguing that Inception was influenced by Paprika.[63][64][65][133][134] Several sources have also noted plot similarities between the film and the 2002 Uncle Scrooge comic The Dream of a Lifetime by Don Rosa.[135][136][137] The influence of Tarkovsky's Solaris on Inception was noted as well.[138][139]

Year-end and all-time lists

Inception appeared on over 273 critics' lists of the top ten films of 2010, being picked as number-one on at least 55 of those lists.[140] It was the second-most-mentioned film in both the top ten lists and number-one rankings, only behind The Social Network along with Toy Story 3, True Grit, The King's Speech, and Black Swan as the most critically acclaimed films of 2010.[140] Author Stephen King placed Inception at No. 3 in his list of top 10 best films of the year.[141]

Critics and publications who ranked the film first for that year included Richard Roeper of the Chicago Sun-Times, Kenneth Turan of the Los Angeles Times (tied with The Social Network and Toy Story 3), Tasha Robinson of The A.V. Club, Empire magazine, and Kirk Honeycutt of The Hollywood Reporter.[142]

Top ten lists

Inception was listed on many critics' top ten lists.[143]

In March 2011, the film was voted by BBC Radio 1 and BBC Radio 1Xtra listeners as their ninth-favorite film of all time.[144] Producer Roger Corman cited Inception as an example of "great imagination and originality".[145] In 2012, Inception was ranked the 35th-best-edited film of all time by the Motion Picture Editors Guild.[146] In the same year, Total Film named it the most-rewatchable movie of all time.[147] In 2014, Empire ranked Inception the tenth-greatest film ever made on their list of "The 301 Greatest Movies Of All Time" as voted by the magazine's readers,[148] while Rolling Stone magazine named it the second-best science fiction film since the turn of the century.[149] Inception was ranked 84th on Hollywood's 100 Favorite Films, a list compiled by The Hollywood Reporter in 2014, surveying "Studio chiefs, Oscar winners and TV royalty".[150] In 2016, Inception was voted the 51st-best film of the 21st Century by BBC, as picked by 177 film critics from around the world.[151] The film was included in the Visual Effects Society's list of "The Most Influential Visual Effects Films of All Time".[152] In 2019, Total Film named Inception the best film of the 2010s.[153] Many critics and media outlets included Inception in their rankings of the best films of the 2010s.[154][155][156][157][158][159] The film was included in Forbes magazine's list of Top 150 Greatest Films of 21st Century.[160]

In April 2014, The Daily Telegraph placed the title on its top ten list of the most overrated films. Telegraph's Tim Robey stated, "It's a criminal failing of the movie that it purports to be about people's dreams being invaded, but demonstrates no instinct at all for what a dream has ever felt like, and no flair for making us feel like we're in one, at any point."[161] The film won an informal poll by the Los Angeles Times as the most overrated movie of 2010.[162]

Accolades

Main article: List of accolades received by Inception

The film won many awards in technical categories, such as Academy Awards for Best Cinematography, Best Sound Editing, Best Sound Mixing, and Best Visual Effects,[51] and the British Academy Film Awards for Best Production Design, Best Special Visual Effects and Best Sound.[163] In most of its artistic nominations, such as Film, Director, and Screenplay at the Oscars, BAFTAs and Golden Globes, the film was defeated by The Social Network or The King's Speech.[51][163][164] However, the film did win the two highest honors for a science fiction or fantasy film: the 2011 Bradbury Award for best dramatic production[165] and the 2011 Hugo Award for Best Dramatic Presentation (Long Form).[166]

Numerous pop and hip hop songs reference the film, including Common's "Blue Sky", N.E.R.D.'s "Hypnotize U", XV's "The Kick", Black Eyed Peas' "Just Can't Get Enough", Lil Wayne's "6 Foot 7 Foot", Jennifer Lopez's "On the Floor", and B.o.B's "Strange Clouds", while T.I. had Inception-based artwork on two of his mixtapes. An instrumental track by Joe Budden is titled "Inception".[167] The animated series South Park parodies the film in the show's tenth episode of its fourteenth season, titled "Insheeption."[168] The film was also an influence for Ariana Grande's video for "No Tears Left to Cry."[169] "Lawnmower Dog", the second episode of the animated comedy show Rick and Morty, parodied the film.[170] In an episode of The Simpsons, named "How I Wet Your Mother", the plot spoofs Inception with various scenes parodying moments from the film.[171] The showrunners of the television series The Flash said its season 4 finale was inspired by Inception.[172] In February 2020, American singer-songwriter Taylor Swift released a lyric video for her single "The Man", which featured visuals bearing resemblance to the film. The song also mentions DiCaprio in its lyrics.[173]

The film's title has been colloquialized as the suffix -ception, which can be jokingly appended to a noun to indicate a layering, nesting, or recursion of the thing in question.[174]

See also

Notes

  1. ^ a b c Credited as Ellen Page; Page came out as transgender and changed his name in 2020.[175]

References

  1. ^ "Inception". British Board of Film Classification. June 29, 2010. Archived from the original on February 28, 2014. Retrieved August 8, 2010.
  2. ^ a b "Film: Inception". Lumiere. Archived from the original on June 23, 2018. Retrieved November 7, 2017.
  3. ^ a b c d "Inception". Box Office Mojo. IMDb. Retrieved July 7, 2022.
  4. ^ Blair, Iain (July 15, 2010). "A Minute With: Director Nolan talks about "Inception"". Reuters. Archived from the original on November 21, 2020. Retrieved July 15, 2010. It's a pretty complex, large-scale action film about dreams that hopefully combines some of the things I've been interested in exploring in my smaller films — memory, perception — with some of the grand scale techniques that I've used in bigger films, like "The Dark Knight.
  5. ^ "WarnerBros.com – Inception". Warner Bros. Archived from the original on March 11, 2020. Retrieved March 19, 2020.
  6. ^ "INCEPTION". Collider. Archived from the original on March 19, 2020. Retrieved March 19, 2020.
  7. ^ "10 great heist films". BFI. September 14, 2018. Retrieved October 28, 2024.
  8. ^ Eisenberg, Mike (May 5, 2010). "Updated 'Inception' Synopsis Reveals More". Screen Rant. Archived from the original on July 11, 2010. Retrieved July 18, 2010.
  9. ^ a b c d e f g h Hiscock, John (July 1, 2010). "Inception: Christopher Nolan interview". Daily Telegraph. UK. Archived from the original on July 4, 2010. Retrieved July 7, 2010.
  10. ^ a b c d e Itzkoff, Dave (June 30, 2010). "A Man and His Dream: Christopher Nolan and 'Inception'". The New York Times. Archived from the original on March 24, 2012. Retrieved October 22, 2020. This is a film I first pitched to the studio probably nine years ago, and I wasn't really ready to finish it. I needed more experience in making a big movie.
  11. ^ a b Fleming, Michael (February 11, 2009). "Nolan tackles Inception for WB". Variety. Archived from the original on November 14, 2011. Retrieved February 25, 2009.
  12. ^ "Filming Locations – NolanFans". December 6, 2009. Archived from the original on March 20, 2012. Retrieved March 23, 2012.
  13. ^ Fritz, Ben (July 15, 2010). "Movie projector: 'Inception' headed for No. 1, 'Sorcerer's Apprentice' to open in third". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on December 4, 2011. Retrieved October 22, 2020. It's also one of the most expensive, at $160 million, a cost that was split by Warner and Legendary Pictures.
  14. ^ Subers, Ray (July 16, 2010). "Weekend Briefing: 'Inception' Breaks In, 'Apprentice' Lacks Magic". Box Office Mojo. Archived from the original on July 20, 2010. Retrieved July 18, 2010.
  15. ^ Peters, Jenny (July 14, 2010). "Partying for a Cause at the "Inception" Premiere". Fashion Wire Daily. Archived from the original on September 27, 2011. Retrieved October 1, 2010.
  16. ^ Dietz, Jason (November 18, 2019). "The Best Movies of the Decade (2010–19), According to Film Critics". Metacritic. Archived from the original on January 1, 2020. Retrieved January 26, 2020.
  17. ^ a b c d e f Weintraub, Steve (March 25, 2010). "Christopher Nolan and Emma Thomas Interview". Collider.com. Archived from the original on March 27, 2010. Retrieved April 6, 2010.
  18. ^ Masters, Kim (November 10, 2010). "The A-List Directors". The Hollywood Reporter. Archived from the original on July 17, 2020. Retrieved April 17, 2020.
  19. ^ Burnetts, Charles (2015). "'Downwards is the only way forwards': 'Dream Space,' Parallel Time and Selfhood in Inception". In Jones, Matthew; Omrod, Joan (eds.). Time Travel in Popular Media: Essays on Film, Television, Literature and Video Games. Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland. pp. 234–246.
  20. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v "Production Notes 2010" (PDF). warnerbros.co.uk. Archived (PDF) from the original on November 10, 2014. Retrieved September 1, 2014.
  21. ^ Billington, Alex (July 20, 2010). "Interview: Japanese Actor Ken Watanabe – Saito in Inception". The Hollywood Reporter. Archived from the original on August 27, 2011. Retrieved July 3, 2011.
  22. ^ Murray, Rebecca (July 15, 2010). "Joseph Gordon-Levitt Inception Interview". About.com. Archived from the original on October 2, 2011. Retrieved July 3, 2011.
  23. ^ Rappe, Elisabeth (April 24, 2009). "Christopher Nolan Trades James Franco for Joseph Gordon-Levitt in 'Inception'". MTV.com. MTV News. Archived from the original on August 6, 2016. Retrieved June 23, 2016.
  24. ^ a b c Kit, Borys (April 1, 2009). "Three circle Nolan's 'Inception'". The Hollywood Reporter. Archived from the original on April 6, 2009. Retrieved April 2, 2009.
  25. ^ Lennon, Christine (July 12, 2010). "Inception: Ellen Page interview". The Daily Telegraph. UK. Archived from the original on October 23, 2011. Retrieved July 3, 2011.
  26. ^ Patches, Matt (July 12, 2010). "Inception's Tom Hardy Is The Forger, Darling". UGO.com. Archived from the original on September 5, 2010. Retrieved July 3, 2011.
  27. ^ O'Doherty, Cahir (July 15, 2010). "Hollywood golden boy Cillian Murphy talks about 'Inception'". Irish Voice Reporter. Archived from the original on October 11, 2011. Retrieved July 3, 2011.
  28. ^ a b George (July 23, 2009). "Hans Zimmer and Tom Berenger Join Inception". CinemaRewind.com. Archived from the original on August 1, 2009. Retrieved August 31, 2009.
  29. ^ Tapley, Kristopher (April 24, 2009). "Caine confirmed in small role in Inception, Gordon-Levitt also joins the cast". InContention.com. Archived from the original on July 13, 2012. Retrieved April 24, 2009.
  30. ^ Boursaw, Jane (August 26, 2009). "Ellen Page on the set of Inception in Paris". EveryJoe.com. Archived from the original on July 12, 2012. Retrieved August 26, 2009.
  31. ^ Martin, Michael (May 10, 2010). "Talulah Riley". Interview Magazine. Archived from the original on September 29, 2011. Retrieved July 3, 2011.
  32. ^ a b c d e f Boucher, Geoff (April 4, 2010). "Inception breaks into dreams". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on November 21, 2020. Retrieved April 6, 2010.
  33. ^ Marikar, Sheila (July 16, 2010). "Inside 'Inception': Could Christopher Nolan's Dream World Exist in Real Life? Dream Experts Say 'Inception's' Conception of the Subconscious Isn't Far From Science". ABC News. Archived from the original on April 30, 2019. Retrieved September 4, 2010.
  34. ^ Itzkoff, Dave (June 30, 2010). "The Man Behind the Dreamscape". The New York Times. Archived from the original on January 14, 2012. Retrieved July 1, 2010.
  35. ^ a b c Jolin, Dan (July 2010). "Crime of the Century". Empire.
  36. ^ a b c d Heuring, David (July 2010). "Dream Thieves". American Cinematographer. American Society of Cinematographers. Archived from the original on September 22, 2010. Retrieved September 22, 2010.
  37. ^ Gordinier, Jeff (August 2010). "Joseph Gordon-Levitt Comes of Age". Details. p. 4. Archived from the original on July 9, 2010. Retrieved July 27, 2010.
  38. ^ "Where was 'Inception' filmed? – British Film Locations". British Film Locations. Archived from the original on September 23, 2015. Retrieved April 29, 2015.
  39. ^ a b c Ditzian, Eric (July 14, 2010). "Inception Stars Reveal Secrets Behind Epic Van Scene". MTV.com. Archived from the original on July 20, 2010. Retrieved July 22, 2010.
  40. ^ "From The Dark Knight to Inception, Wally Pfister, ASC refuses to compromise". Kodak. Archived from the original on May 23, 2013. Retrieved May 19, 2013.
  41. ^ "Christopher Nolan Tested 3D Conversion For 'Inception,' Might Use Process For 'Batman 3'". The Playlist. June 14, 2010. Archived from the original on May 10, 2011. Retrieved January 22, 2011.
  42. ^ a b "Christopher Nolan's dim view of a Hollywood craze: 'I'm not a huge fan of 3-D'". Los Angeles Times. June 13, 2010. Archived from the original on February 1, 2011. Retrieved January 22, 2011.
  43. ^ Gallagher, Brian (February 24, 2011). "Inception being converted to 3D Blu-ray?". movieweb.com. Archived from the original on February 26, 2011. Retrieved February 27, 2011.
  44. ^ "Inception". Empire. April 2010.
  45. ^ a b c d Russell, Terrence (July 20, 2010). "How Inception's Astonishing Visuals Came to Life". Wired. Archived from the original on September 13, 2012. Retrieved July 21, 2010.
  46. ^ "Hans Zimmer's 'Inception' Score Will Release On July 13th". ScreenRant.com. June 18, 2010. Archived from the original on June 25, 2010. Retrieved July 1, 2010.
  47. ^ a b Cassidy, Kevin (July 13, 2010). "Q&A: Composer Hans Zimmer". The Hollywood Reporter. Archived from the original on November 2, 2012. Retrieved July 14, 2010.
  48. ^ a b Martens, Todd (July 20, 2010). "Hans Zimmer and Johnny Marr talk about the sad romance of 'Inception'". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on July 21, 2010. Retrieved July 20, 2010.
  49. ^ "Inception: Music from the Motion Picture official website". insceptionscore.com. Warner Bros. Archived from the original on June 16, 2012. Retrieved July 3, 2011.
  50. ^ "Inception Blu-ray review from Blu-ray.com". Archived from the original on August 15, 2012. Retrieved August 8, 2012.
  51. ^ a b c "Nominees for the 83rd Academy Awards". Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Archived from the original on September 4, 2012. Retrieved January 28, 2011.
  52. ^ a b c Paul, I. A. Desiring-Machines in American Cinema: What Inception tells us about our experience of reality and film Archived August 24, 2011, at the Wayback Machine Senses of Cinema, Issue 56. Retrieved October 4, 2011
  53. ^ a b c d Denby, David (July 26, 2010). "Dream Factory". The New Yorker. Archived from the original on February 22, 2011. Retrieved February 10, 2011.
  54. ^ Breznican, Anthony (July 15, 2010). "With Inception, Chris Nolan's head games continue". USA Today. Archived from the original on June 29, 2012. Retrieved July 15, 2010.
  55. ^ Lehrer, J. The Neuroscience of Inception Archived March 16, 2014, at the Wayback Machine, Wired, July 26, 2010. Retrieved October 8, 2011.
  56. ^ Dreyfus, Stéphanie "Inception", allégorie onirique sur l'illusion cinématographique Archived February 25, 2017, at the Wayback Machine La Croix, July 20, 2010. Retrieved January 3, 2012
  57. ^ a b c Capps, Robert (December 8, 2010). "Inception's director discusses the film's ending and creation". Wired. Archived from the original on September 27, 2017. Retrieved January 24, 2011.
  58. ^ a b Thompson, Kristin; Bordwell, David (August 12, 2010). "Revisiting Inception". Observations on Film Art. David Bordwell. Archived from the original (blog) on September 29, 2018. Retrieved October 6, 2011.
  59. ^ Thompson, Kristin; Bordwell, David (August 6, 2010). "Inception; or, Dream a Little Dream within a Dream with Me". Observations on Film Art. David Bordwell. Archived from the original (blog) on October 7, 2011. Retrieved October 6, 2011.
  60. ^ Howell, Peter (July 15, 2010). "Howell: Relax and enjoy the ride, Inception director says". Toronto Star. Archived from the original on July 16, 2010. Retrieved September 4, 2010.
  61. ^ a b Ouellette, Jennifer (September 7, 2020). "Can't watch Tenet? Now is the perfect time to revisit Inception". Ars Technica. Archived from the original on September 7, 2020. Retrieved September 7, 2020.
  62. ^ "Inception par Christopher Nolan: Interview, références, indices." Excessif.com (in French). Archived from the original on July 17, 2010. Retrieved January 4, 2010.
  63. ^ a b Drazen, Patrick (2014). Anime Explosion!: The What? Why? and Wow! of Japanese Animation, Revised and Updated Edition. Stone Bridge Press. ISBN 978-1-61172-550-6.
  64. ^ a b Wardlow, Ciara (March 2, 2017). "The Synergy of 'Inception' and 'Paprika'". Film School Rejects. Archived from the original on November 29, 2018. Retrieved November 27, 2018.
  65. ^ a b Rizzo-Smith, Julian (August 24, 2018). "An Ode to Anime Auteur Satoshi Kon". IGN. Archived from the original on November 29, 2018. Retrieved November 27, 2018.
  66. ^ a b Jensen, Jeff (November 30, 2010). "Christopher Nolan on his 'last' Batman movie, an 'Inception' videogame, and that spinning top". Entertainment Weekly. Archived from the original on December 2, 2010. Retrieved January 6, 2011.
  67. ^ Nolan, Christopher (August 17, 2010). Inception – The Shooting Script. Insight Editions. p. 218. ISBN 978-1-60887-015-8.
  68. ^ Sharf, Zack (July 21, 2023). "Christopher Nolan Tells the 'Correct Answer' to 'Inception' Ending, Recalls Sneaking Into Theaters and Hearing 'Gasps, Groans, Frustrations'". Variety. Archived from the original on July 22, 2023. Retrieved July 22, 2023.
  69. ^ Fisher, Mark "The Lost Unconscious: Delusions and Dreams in Inception Archived January 1, 2019, at the Wayback Machine", Film Quarterly, Vol. 64, No. 3 (Spring 2011), pp. 37–45 University of California Press.
  70. ^ Fritz, Ben (July 7, 2010). "Warner gambles on an unproven commodity". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on July 28, 2010. Retrieved July 13, 2010.
  71. ^ "Finding 'Salt;' Marketing 'Inception'". KCRW.com. June 18, 2010. Archived from the original on September 23, 2010. Retrieved July 4, 2011.
  72. ^ Goldberg, Matt (December 15, 2010). "First Poster from Christopher Nolan's INCEPTION Starring Leonardo DiCaprio". Collider.com. Archived from the original on August 13, 2011. Retrieved July 5, 2011.
  73. ^ Lesnic, Silas (April 5, 2010). "Start Your Dream Weaving". UGO.com. UGO Networks. Archived from the original on May 10, 2010. Retrieved July 5, 2011.
  74. ^ a b Gallagher, Brian (May 10, 2010). "Official Full-Length Inception Trailer Is Here!". MovieWeb.com. Archived from the original on August 29, 2011. Retrieved July 5, 2011.
  75. ^ Thill, Scott (June 1, 2010). "Mysterious Dream-Share Manual Is a Viral Mind-Wipe". Wired. Archived from the original on September 11, 2011. Retrieved June 3, 2010.
  76. ^ Newman, Nick (June 7, 2010). "New Inception Viral Poster". TheFilmStage.com. Archived from the original on June 11, 2010. Retrieved June 7, 2010.
  77. ^ DiOrio, Carl (July 9, 2010). "'Inception' is no dream for marketers". The Hollywood Reporter. Archived from the original on June 23, 2013. Retrieved May 5, 2011.
  78. ^ Owen, Matt (July 21, 2010). "Inception: multichannel marketing that works like a dream". eConsultancy.com. Archived from the original on July 7, 2011. Retrieved July 4, 2011.
  79. ^ "Mind Heist". zackhemsey.com. Zack Hemsey. Archived from the original on August 3, 2012. Retrieved July 31, 2012.
  80. ^ "'Inception' Trailer Composer Zack Hemsey Profiled". SlashFilm.com. April 7, 2011. Archived from the original on May 30, 2019. Retrieved April 13, 2011.
  81. ^ "GHOSTBUSTERS Trailer Re-Cut to INCEPTION Score". Collider.com. January 7, 2011. Archived from the original on March 15, 2011. Retrieved April 13, 2011.
  82. ^ "50s Inception Trailer Profiled". CollegeHumor.com. October 5, 2010. Archived from the original on March 1, 2012. Retrieved April 13, 2011.
  83. ^ "A Capella Inception Trailer". CollegeHumor.com. September 13, 2010. Archived from the original on April 18, 2011. Retrieved April 13, 2011.
  84. ^ Raup, Jordan (June 7, 2010). "Behind The Scenes Inception Featurette Now Available In HD". TheFilmStage.com. Archived from the original on June 10, 2010. Retrieved June 7, 2010.
  85. ^ a b Abramovitch, Seth (May 5, 2015). "'Braaams' for Beginners: How a Horn Sound Ate Hollywood". The Hollywood Reporter. Prometheus Global Media. Archived from the original on June 5, 2020. Retrieved May 26, 2020.
  86. ^ "PHOTOS – Inception : découvrez le DVD en images". Première. Archived from the original on February 9, 2011. Retrieved May 4, 2011.
  87. ^ Redwine, Ivana (December 7, 2010). "New DVD Releases – December 7, 2010". About.com. Archived from the original on July 25, 2011. Retrieved May 4, 2011.
  88. ^ Barton, Joe (December 6, 2010). "New on DVD: Week of December 6". Moviefone.co.uk. Archived from the original on July 21, 2011. Retrieved April 5, 2011.
  89. ^ Latham, Saul (February 18, 2023). "What happened to all those videotapes?". Korea Times. Retrieved July 20, 2024.
  90. ^ Inception BD/DVD Briefcase Gift Set Archived November 18, 2010, at the Wayback Machine. Warner Bros. Retrieved November 23, 2010.
  91. ^ "Christopher Nolan Collection 4K Blu-ray". Archived from the original on March 29, 2018. Retrieved March 29, 2018.
  92. ^ "Inception (2010) – Financial Information". The Numbers. Archived from the original on November 28, 2018. Retrieved November 27, 2018.
  93. ^ Jensen, Jeff (November 30, 2010). "Christopher Nolan on his 'last' Batman movie, an 'Inception' videogame, and that spinning top". Entertainment Weekly. Archived from the original on December 2, 2010. Retrieved December 3, 2010.
  94. ^ a b D'Alessandro, Anthony (July 27, 2020). "'Tenet' Rollout Set: 70 Countries To Begin Opening By End Of August, Followed By U.S. Over Labor Day Weekend". Deadline Hollywood. Archived from the original on July 29, 2020. Retrieved July 29, 2020.
  95. ^ D'Alessandro, Anthony (June 12, 2020). "'Tenet' Moves To July 31; 10th Anniversary Reissue Of Christopher Nolan's 'Inception' To Go On July 17". Deadline Hollywood. Archived from the original on June 13, 2020. Retrieved June 14, 2020.
  96. ^ Rubin, Rebecca (June 25, 2020). "Christopher Nolan's 'Tenet' Delays Release Date Again". Variety. Archived from the original on June 26, 2020. Retrieved June 27, 2020.
  97. ^ "Inception (2010)". Box Office Mojo. Archived from the original on November 9, 2012. Retrieved August 18, 2011.
  98. ^ a b Bock, Jeff (February 24, 2009). "Wb name drops big titles". ERC Box Office. Archived from the original on February 26, 2009. Retrieved February 25, 2009.
  99. ^ Vlessing, Etan (October 1, 2009). "Imax books Inception". The Hollywood Reporter. Archived from the original on October 26, 2012. Retrieved October 1, 2009.
  100. ^ Plumb, Alastair (July 9, 2010). "Inception World Premiere Report". Empire. Archived from the original on October 12, 2011. Retrieved July 9, 2010.
  101. ^ Finke, Nikki (July 17, 2010). "'Inception' Dreams Up $21.4M Friday And Possible $52M Weekend; No Magic For 'Sorcerer's Apprentice' With $5.4M/$16.5M". Deadline. Archived from the original on July 17, 2010. Retrieved July 18, 2010.
  102. ^ a b Gray, Brandon (July 19, 2010). "Weekend Report: 'Inception' Incites Intense Interest". Box Office Mojo. Archived from the original on July 20, 2010. Retrieved July 21, 2010.
  103. ^ Gray, Brandon (July 26, 2010). "'Inception' Maintains Grip, 'Salt' Savors Second Place". Box Office Mojo. Archived from the original on August 15, 2010. Retrieved September 4, 2010.
  104. ^ Gray, Brandon (August 2, 2010). "'Inception' Keeps Dream Alive". Box Office Mojo. Archived from the original on August 19, 2010. Retrieved September 4, 2010.
  105. ^ Gray, Brandon (August 9, 2010). "Weekend Report: 'Other Guys' Arrest Audiences, 'Step Up' Gets Served, 'Inception' Lingers". Box Office Mojo. Archived from the original on August 12, 2011. Retrieved June 19, 2011.
  106. ^ "Inception". Box Office Mojo. Archived from the original on September 16, 2010. Retrieved October 22, 2010.
  107. ^ "2010 Domestic Grosses". Box Office Mojo. Archived from the original on April 17, 2019. Retrieved September 6, 2010.
  108. ^ "2010 Worldwide Box Office". Box Office Mojo. Archived from the original on May 20, 2020. Retrieved May 27, 2024.
  109. ^ "Christopher Nolan". Box Office Mojo. Archived from the original on August 23, 2010. Retrieved September 6, 2010.
  110. ^ "Leonardo DiCaprio". Box Office Mojo. Archived from the original on November 19, 2010. Retrieved November 15, 2010.
  111. ^ "Inception (2010)". Rotten Tomatoes. Fandango Media. Archived from the original on December 15, 2017. Retrieved January 22, 2021.
  112. ^ "Inception". Metacritic. CBS Interactive. Archived from the original on July 31, 2017. Retrieved July 27, 2010.
  113. ^ Stewart, Andrew (July 18, 2010). "'Inception' tops weekend box office". Variety. Archived from the original on September 17, 2020. Retrieved August 18, 2010.
  114. ^ Travers, Peter (July 12, 2010). "Inception". Rolling Stone. Archived from the original on July 15, 2010. Retrieved July 14, 2010.
  115. ^ Chang, Justin (July 5, 2010). "Inception". Variety. Retrieved July 5, 2010.
  116. ^ Vejvoda, Jim (July 5, 2010). "Inception Review: Christopher Nolan follows up The Dark Knight with his best film yet". IGN.com. Archived from the original on July 9, 2010. Retrieved July 5, 2010.
  117. ^ Roark, David (July 12, 2010). "Inception". Relevant Magazine. Archived from the original on July 21, 2010. Retrieved July 14, 2010.
  118. ^ Pierce, Nev (June 7, 2010). "Inception". Empire. Archived from the original on April 20, 2011. Retrieved July 7, 2010.
  119. ^ Schwarzbaum, Lisa (July 12, 2010). "Inception". Entertainment Weekly. Archived from the original on July 14, 2010. Retrieved July 13, 2010.
  120. ^ Ebert, Roger (July 14, 2010). "Inception". Chicago Sun-Times. Archived from the original on April 18, 2013. Retrieved July 15, 2010.
  121. ^ Roeper, Richard. "Inception Review". Chicago Sun-Times. Archived from the original on July 18, 2010. Retrieved July 21, 2010.
  122. ^ Kermode, Mark (December 24, 2010). Kermode Uncut: My Top Five Films of the Year. BBC. Event occurs at 5:05. Archived from the original on April 9, 2019. Retrieved February 9, 2011.
  123. ^ Phillips, Michael (July 15, 2010). "Inception". Chicago Tribune. Archived from the original on August 11, 2010. Retrieved July 15, 2010.
  124. ^ Corliss, Richard (July 14, 2010). "Inception: Whose Mind Is It, Anyway?". Time. Archived from the original on July 18, 2010. Retrieved July 15, 2010.
  125. ^ Turan, Kenneth (July 16, 2010). "Inception". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on July 28, 2010. Retrieved July 16, 2010.
  126. ^ Puig, Claudia (July 15, 2010). "You definitely won't sleep through complex thriller Inception". USA Today. Archived from the original on July 17, 2010. Retrieved July 16, 2010.
  127. ^ Edelstein, David (July 11, 2010). "Dream a Little Dream". New York. Archived from the original on July 14, 2010. Retrieved July 13, 2010.
  128. ^ Reed, Rex (July 13, 2010). "Can Someone Please Explain Inception to Me?". The New York Observer. Archived from the original on July 15, 2010. Retrieved July 14, 2010.
  129. ^ Scott, A. O. (July 15, 2010). "This Time the Dream's on Me". The New York Times. Archived from the original on July 17, 2010. Retrieved July 15, 2010.
  130. ^ Schager, Nick (July 14, 2010). "Inception". Slant. Archived from the original on August 8, 2011. Retrieved May 27, 2011.
  131. ^ Faraci, Devin (July 19, 2010). "Never Wake Up: The Meaning and Secret of Inception". Chud.com. Archived from the original on May 12, 2011. Retrieved May 27, 2011.
  132. ^ Lancashire, David (October 6, 2010). "Cobb is Dead". Retrieved May 27, 2011.
  133. ^ Boone, Steven (July 16, 2010). "'Inception': As eye-catching, and as profound, as an Usher concert". Politico. Archived from the original on October 26, 2017. Retrieved January 24, 2019.
  134. ^ Emerson, Jim (July 17, 2010). "Inception: Has Christopher Nolan forgotten how to dream?". RogerEbert.com. Archived from the original on September 20, 2013. Retrieved January 24, 2019.
  135. ^ Brown, Damon (August 11, 2010). "Was 'Inception' inspired by Donald Duck?". CNN. Archived from the original on February 5, 2012. Retrieved December 29, 2011.
  136. ^ Gornstein, Leslie (August 4, 2010). "Did Inception Really Rip Off Scrooge McDuck?". E! Online. Archived from the original on February 6, 2012. Retrieved December 29, 2011.
  137. ^ Sean, O'Neal (August 4, 2010). "The "Inception ripped-off Scrooge McDuck" theory that will briefly amuse you". The A.V. Club. Archived from the original on January 9, 2012. Retrieved December 29, 2011.
  138. ^ Bowen, Kevin (January 16, 2020). "Inception – The Other View". screencomment.com. Archived from the original on December 10, 2020.
  139. ^ Bothz-Bornstein, Thorsten (2011). "The Movie as a Thinking Machine". Inception and Philosophy: Ideas to die for: 205. ISBN 978-0-8126-9733-9.
  140. ^ a b "Home Page – Best of 2010". CriticsTop10. Archived from the original on January 20, 2012. Retrieved May 4, 2011.
  141. ^ King, Stephen (May 2, 2020). "Stephen King: The best films of 2010". Entertainment Weekly. Archived from the original on September 29, 2020.
  142. ^ Dietz, Jason (December 9, 2010). "2010 Film Critic Top Ten Lists". Metacritic. Archived from the original on January 4, 2018. Retrieved January 30, 2018.
  143. ^ http://www.metacritic.com/feature/film-critic-top-ten-lists
  144. ^ "Radio 1 Movies Blog". BBC. Archived from the original on April 24, 2011. Retrieved July 23, 2013.
  145. ^ "Roger Corman CORMAN'S WORLD Interview". Collider. December 12, 2011. Archived from the original on June 4, 2020. Retrieved June 4, 2020.
  146. ^ "The 75 Best Editied Films". CineMontage. Summer 2013. Archived from the original on March 17, 2015. Retrieved June 1, 2013.
  147. ^ "50 Most Rewatchable Movies". Total Film. Archived from the original on July 9, 2013. Retrieved July 24, 2013.
  148. ^ "The 301 Greatest Movies Of All Time". Empire. Archived from the original on July 12, 2014. Retrieved May 29, 2014.
  149. ^ "The Top 20 Sci-Fi Films of the 21st Century". Rolling Stone. Archived from the original on August 11, 2014. Retrieved August 14, 2014.
  150. ^ "Hollywood's 100 Favorite Films". The Hollywood Reporter. Archived from the original on June 23, 2015. Retrieved June 22, 2015.
  151. ^ "The 21st Century's 100 Greatest Films". BBC. Archived from the original on August 23, 2016. Retrieved August 23, 2016.
  152. ^ "Visual Effects Society: The Top 70 VFX Films of All Time Include 'Star Wars,' 'Blade Runner,' and 'Citizen Kane'". Indiewire. September 12, 2017. Archived from the original on September 16, 2017. Retrieved September 16, 2017.
  153. ^ "The 100 best movies of the decade". Total Film. December 16, 2019. Archived from the original on December 17, 2019. Retrieved December 17, 2019.
  154. ^ "The 100 Greatest Movies Of The 21st Century: 10 – 1". Empire. January 11, 2020. Archived from the original on January 20, 2020. Retrieved January 11, 2020.
  155. ^ "The 15 best films of the 2010s". mashable.com. Archived from the original on November 18, 2020. Retrieved September 5, 2019.
  156. ^ "The 100 Best Films of the 2010s". medium.com. September 28, 2019. Archived from the original on November 9, 2019. Retrieved November 5, 2019.
  157. ^ Leadbeater, Alex (March 2, 2020). "Best movies of 2010s decade". Screen Rant. Archived from the original on March 2, 2020.
  158. ^ "The 100 best movies of the 2010s". The A.V. Club. Archived from the original on December 10, 2019. Retrieved November 5, 2019.
  159. ^ "Critics Poll: Top 75 Movies of the Decade". World of Reel. Archived from the original on May 2, 2019. Retrieved May 2, 2019.
  160. ^ Hughes, Mark (May 31, 2021). "The Top 150 Greatest Films of 21st Century". Forbes. Archived from the original on August 19, 2021. Retrieved August 19, 2021.
  161. ^ Robey, Tim (April 21, 2014). "10 most overrated films of all time". The Telegraph. Archived from the original on June 1, 2014. Retrieved June 1, 2014.
  162. ^ Zeitchik, Steven (December 30, 2010). "'Inception' wins informal poll as most overrated movie of 2010 (Part 2)". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on June 7, 2014. Retrieved June 2, 2014.
  163. ^ a b "2011 BAFTA Awards Nominees". British Academy of Film and Television Arts. Archived from the original on January 10, 2011. Retrieved January 28, 2011.
  164. ^ "68th Annual Golden Globe Awards Nominations". Hollywood Foreign Press Association. Archived from the original on September 11, 2012. Retrieved January 28, 2011.
  165. ^ "2011 Nebula Award winners". Tor.com. May 22, 2011. Archived from the original on October 27, 2011. Retrieved October 16, 2011.
  166. ^ "2011 Hugo Award winners". Hugo Awards. August 21, 2011. Archived from the original on April 1, 2016. Retrieved October 16, 2011.
  167. ^ Zorgel, Aaron (March 8, 2012). "Why do rappers love the movie Inception so much?". AUX.TV. Archived from the original on June 11, 2016. Retrieved December 23, 2016.
  168. ^ Hill, Scott T. (October 21, 2010). "South Park Satirizes Inception's Mind-Wipe". Wired. Archived from the original on November 16, 2017. Retrieved November 15, 2017.
  169. ^ Willman, Chris (April 19, 2018). "Song Review: Ariana Grande's 'No Tears Left to Cry'". Variety. Archived from the original on July 14, 2018. Retrieved July 6, 2018.
  170. ^ Goldberg, Lesley (December 6, 2013). "Adult Swim's 'Rick and Morty' Takes On 'Inception'". The Hollywood Reporter. Archived from the original on May 13, 2020. Retrieved January 19, 2020.
  171. ^ Willmore, Alison (March 27, 2020). "When 'The Simpsons' Went 'Inception'". Indiewire. Archived from the original on March 27, 2020.
  172. ^ Venable, Nick (February 7, 2020). "The Flash Showrunner Explains How The Finale Is Inspired By Inception". Cinemablend. Archived from the original on July 11, 2018. Retrieved April 2, 2020.
  173. ^ Reda, Natasha (February 7, 2020). "Taylor Swift's 'The Man' Lyric Video Features a Subtle Nod to Leonardo DiCaprio". PopCrush. Archived from the original on February 8, 2020. Retrieved February 9, 2020.
  174. ^ "-ception – The Rice University Neologisms Database". Rice University. Archived from the original on July 5, 2017. Retrieved December 23, 2016.
  175. ^ Donnelly, Matt (December 1, 2020). "Oscar-Nominated 'Umbrella Academy' Star Elliot Page Announces He Is Transgender". Variety. Archived from the original on December 1, 2020. Retrieved December 1, 2020.

Further reading

Wikiquote has quotations related to Inception.
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Inception.
Retrieved from "https://wiki.riteme.site/w/index.php?title=Inception&oldid=1264082432#Cast"