Inception is a 2010 American science fiction film written and directed by Christopher Nolan. The movie is considered a masterpiece, and the director himself is known for elevating actors and actresses to the next level in their careers.
The film was very well-received by the public due to its fascinating concept and who is part of the cast. Mentioning that Leonardo DiCaprio is the star in the movie should tell you how unique it is already.
With great punctuations around review and critics’ websites as well as a box office that defends its popularity and favoritism, there’s a lot we need to cover about the film.
Awards, salaries, and the plot alone will leave us a lot of work to do in this article. However, we are more than eager to get started.
Inside the Director’s Mind: Plot & Cast
Inception is one of those films you might need to watch a few couples of times to understand every single part of the plot and how it disinvolve.
However, we believe you will be more than happy to go over it more than two or three times (maybe ten like us) after getting to know a bit more about it.
Our focus lies in Dom Cobb, a master thief who is known for being the best at extracting valuable secrets from the subconscious, which is when the mind is most vulnerable and the dream-sharing technology developed can come in handy.
Cobb’s unique ability has made him a sought-after player in the treacherous new world corporate espionage. However, it has also made Cobb an international fugitive that has cost him everything he loved.
But without expecting it, Cobb now has a chance to redeem himself. He could get his life back if he succeeds in the impossible: Inception.
Cobb and his team must pull off the opposite of the perfect heist. Their task is not to steal an idea but to plant it. It could be the ultimate crime if they succeed, but their entire downfall if they fail.
Along the road, things seemed to be going smoother than expected. However, despite their best planning and expertise, the team cannot prepare for the enemy that seems to anticipate every move.
After all, this danger is someone Cobb knew very well and is just another mastermind in what extraction and mind are involved. Will the team achieve the perfect crime, or is it going to be a complete failure due to the dangerous enemy?
To bring the bizarre concept of the movie to life, again, the cast needed to be quite formidable, and it sure didn’t disappoint.
With Leonardo DiCaprio as Dom Cobb, we need to know who was part of his team but also the people trying to destroy it all. Though, you won’t be able to determine which is which without watching the film.
- Joseph Gordon-Levitt as Arthur.
- Elliot Page as Ariadne.
- Tom Hardy as Eames.
- Ken Watanabe as Mr. Saito.
- Dileep Rao as Yusuf.
- Cillian Murphy as Rober Michael Fischer.
- Tom Berenger as Peter Browning.
- Michael Caine as Professor Stephen Miles.
Many of the names will sound familiar, and they should! So, you can expect a wild ride with the people involved in the film.
What About Production?
When it comes to the people involved behind cameras, we already mentioned the great Christopher Nolan, who directed and wrote the film. However, he was also the producer next to Emma Thomas.
Meanwhile, the cinematography was handled by Wally Pfister, edition by Lee Smith, and Hans Zimmer led the music.
For the production company, Legendary Pictures Syncopy was the only one behind it. However, Warner Bros. Pictures was the distributor.
Not many people in terms of companies in the production were involved, and this usually makes a film be quite unique since it follows the entire idea of the director and written, just like Nolan wants his movies.
Now, the development of the film starts way back to when it was recorded and produced.
Going back to ten years prior, Nolan worked for almost a decade on it to ensure it was the best one based on the era of the films when “The Matrix,” “Dark City,” and “The Thirteenth Floor” came out.
You might not know that these films follow a concept: You aren’t in the real world or don’t know if it is reality.
If you go back to the most popular “The Matrix,” you will get what we mean by this. After all, our characters aren’t exactly in the real world most of the time.
Nolan followed this concept, but he didn’t want the film to be another one of the many released. Thus, he made sure to work on the script for as long as it took. However, he decided to work on other projects before this one.
One of the reasons was gaining more experience and having enough budget to finance the film.
After a lot of work and wanting to include DiCaprio in one of his fields since ages ago, the principal production started in 2009 in Tokyo and closed in Alberta by the last trimester of the year.
The movie was then prepared with the editions and going for marketing for its big premiere in the set release date.
Box Office & Critics: The Dream Movie Came True
Finally, getting into the numbers, you would be surprised by knowing that the film needed a budget of $160 million to be made, and some consider it a bit too low for the quality of the film.
In our case, we kind of think it is fair.
But the important part is that now that you know the budget, the box office will come with great surprise as its final worldwide total reached the $825.5 million mark.
$292.5 million were grossed in the United States and Canada, while the other territories contributed $532.9 million.
During its release on July 16, 2010, the film grossed $21.8 million on the opening day alone. By the end of the weekend, it had grossed $62.7 million and was the number 1 on the opening weekend at the time, and was the second-highest-grossing debut for a science fiction film.
The expectations for the film were quite high due to Nolan’s work with “The Dark Knight” and how it is one of the best films based on a comic character today.
Thus, the hype was real, and fortunately, Inception met the expectations.
With review websites like Rotten Tomatoes giving it an 87% and despite the score in Metacritic with 74 out of 100, the film overall met an average rating of 8.1/10. Pages like IMDb even rate it 8.8/10.
As for fans, the film left them wanting more, and people went to rewatch it several times as they shared their opinions and critics in popular forums.
Today, Inception continues to be one of the references in the cinema and entire moving industry, with many parts of the film being used as jokes and iconic scenes to be mentioned in some other jobs by many directors.
As for prizes, more than an Academy Awards can be added to the list and in our opinion, Leonardo DiCaprio should have been part of the Oscar winners that night, but that’s just us.
Salaries: How Much Did the Actors & Actresses Earn?
When it comes to how much the cast earned, this is quite the tough question.
Most of the details about their payments weren’t disclosed. In fact, over 90% of the cast kept it confidential as none of the actors and actresses involved is known for providing this information.
However, some cannot avoid it.
In the case of DiCaprio, he earned about $15 million for his paycheck, which he decided to cut in order to help with the budget for the film.
Regardless, he ended up earning $50 million after the premier due to revenues and the details of his contract with the companies. Thus, we can’t really say he earned just a little.
With this earning, he entered the list of one of the largest paychecks of all time and continues to have a very solid spot despite the decade.
For the rest of the cast, we can’t really give you an estimate or some details. We mentioned this earlier, but this information is rather confidential for most of the members.
5 Mind-Blowing Facts About Inception
- One of the film’s scenes was inspired by James Bond, and we are confident you will notice which one.
- Christopher Nolan didn’t research as much as you think. Despite the film being focused on dreams, he didn’t learn more about them.
- Leonardo DiCaprio was the only one Nolan wanted to play the main character, Dom Cobb.
- Nolan crafted every shot in the film, which means no second unit was hired.
- Elliot Page (known as Ellen before) wasn’t the first option for Ariadne. Instead, Emily Blunt, Rachel McAdams, and even Taylor Swift were great options based on Nolan’s interviews and mentions.
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