Inception Film Locations

Where were the scenes in Inception filmed? Christopher Nolan decided to film Inception in a wide variety of global locations. Following are descriptions of what scenes were filmed in which cities around the world. Click the links for more details about the locations. Yes, there are spoilers if you haven’t already seen Inception.

Tokyo, Japan

The scene where Saito sits in the helicopter and offers the job to Cobb (while Arthur tries to talk Cobb out of it) was filmed on top of a skyscraper in Tokyo.

Cardington, England

As I mentioned in a previous posting, sets were built in a converted airplane hangar in Cardington to film scenes of the hotel bar, the rotating hotel corridor, the hotel room, and the elevator shaft.

Other Locations in England

They filmed the scene where Miles introduces Cobb to Ariadne in the Flaxman Gallery at the University College London. They filmed Yusuf’s pharmacy at the Farmiloe Building. The scene with Arthur and Ariadne discussing the Penrose steps was filmed at a former gaming company.

Paris, France

The scene where Cobb is explaining things to Ariadne while they sit at sidewalk cafe was actually filmed at a small bakery in Paris. Here’s a map of Paris.

Tangier, Morocco

The Mombassa scenes were actually filmed in Tangier. This is where Cobb meets up with forger Eames and they go to meet Yusuf the chemist. The scene of Cobb running through the streets and alleys was shot here  in the Grand Souk section. The riot scene that happens at the beginning of the movie was also shot in Morocco.

Los Angeles, California

The scenes of the interior rooms of Saito’s castle were shot on sets built on a soundstage. The castle is also where the water comes flooding through the windows toward the end of a dream while Cobb stands there, watching the water come crashing down.

The car chase scenes during the rainstorm were also filmed in L.A. The rain was created by spray heads that were rigged to the tops of buildings. This is also where one of the most amazing scenes of the movie was shot – the freight train coming down the middle of the street, knocking cars out of the way.  Los Angeles is also where the scenes of the team riding around in the white van were shot.

Other Los Angeles Locations

A warehouse in L.A. was used as the team’s Paris workshop. In addition, they built parts of the exterior of Saito’s castle in a water tank at Universal Studios, the San Pedro harbor, and in Palos Verdes.

Calgary, Canada

Filming was done at a closed ski resort named Fortress Mountain on a mountain near Banff. Most of the outdoor action sequences in Calgary were shot with handheld cameras and the actors and cameramen alike had to do extensive skiing which, in the case of Tom Hardy, involved taking ski lessons before filming began. Aerial scenes were shot from a helicopter.

Here’s a video showing clips from the movie, including the locations. I think I got them right…

Song in video clip: Dream within a Dream from Inception Soundtrack by Hans Zimmer

Weekend Box Office: August 6-8, 2010

Here is the top 10 Box Office for Aug. 6-8, 2010:

1. The Other Guys, $35.6M, Week 1, (3651)
2. Inception, $18.6M, Week 4, (3418 screens)
3. Step Up 3-D, $15.5M, Week 1, (2435 screens)
4. Salt, $11.1M, Week 3, (3317 screens)
5. Dinner for Schmucks, $10.5M, Week 2, (3004 screens)
6. Despicable Me, $9.4M, Week 5 (3413 screens)
7. Cats & Dogs: The Revenge of Kitty Galore, $6.9M, Week 2, (3705 screens)
8. Charlie St. Cloud, $4.7M, Week 2 (2725 screens)
9. Toy Story 3, $3.0M, Week 8 (1714 screens)
10. The Kids Are All Right, $2.5M, Week 5, (994 screens)

How the Inception Corridor Scenes were Filmed

Here’s detailed information about how the corridor scenes in Inception were filmed.

Director/writer Christopher Nolan wanted things to look as real as possible and decided to keep the CGI (computer generated imagery) to a minimum. Sets were built inside a huge hangar in Cardington, England to film the rotating and tilt scenes in the movie. The effort took coordination between Chris Corbould (special effects supervisor), Guy Hendrix Dyas (production designer), and Wally Pfister (Cinematographer).

Keeping with the realism, Joseph Gordon-Levitt (Arthur) filmed his own scenes, rather than use a stunt double.  Weeks before filming of the corridor and other hotel scenes began, Gordon-Levitt trained and rehearsed with stunt coordinator Tom Struthers’ team.

There were actually two versions of the corridor built: one that rotated and one that was stationary. The stationary one was built in the vertical position. Joseph Gordon-Levitt (Arthur) wore a harness and wires while filming those scenes so he could fly, fall, and jump around. When the film is played back showing the hallway in the normal, horizontal position it gives the effect that Arthur and the other characters are floating in zero gravity. They also did things with the actors’ clothes, such as put wires in their shoestrings to keep them stiff, so it added to the effect that the people were actually floating and not falling.

The spinning version of the corridor set was 100 feet long and could spin up to eight revolutions per minute. It was suspended from massive, equally spaced rings and was powered by two electric motors. A remote-controlled camera was mounted on a plate that ran on a track beneath the corridor floor.  Because they couldn’t use the normal movie lights to brighten the scene during filming (or they would be in the shots), they devised a lighting scheme using the sconces and pendant lights that were on the walls of the hallway to brighten the scenes.

Similar effects as those mentioned above were used to film scenes in the hotel bar, the hotel room, and the elevator shaft.

So, now that you know that, here are some clips I took from the Inception trailers showing some of the things discussed in this posting.

Source: Inception production notes.  Song: Dream within a Dream from the Inception soundtrack by Hans Zimmer.

Weekend Box Office: July 30-Aug 1, 2010

Here is the top 10 Box Office for July 30 – Aug 1, 2010:

1. Inception, $27.5M, Week 3, (3545 screens)
2. Dinner for Schmucks, $23.3M, Week 1, (2911 screens)
3. Salt, $19.3M, Week 2, (3612 screens)
4. Despicable Me, $15.5M, Week 4 (3602 screens)
5. Cats & Dogs: The Revenge of Kitty Galore, $12.5M, Week 1, (3705 screens)
6. Charlie St. Cloud, $12.1M, Week 1 (2718 screens)
7. Toy Story 3, $5.0M, Week 7 (2105 screens)
8. Grown Ups, $4.5M, Week 6, (2269 screens)
9. The Sorcerer’s Apprentice, $4.3M, Week 3 (2524 screens)
10. The Twilight Saga: Eclipse, $4M, Week 5, (2334 screens)

The magic of the spinning corridor and 9 other Inception resources

Want to know how they filmed that spinning corridor scene in Inception?  Here’s what I found out.  Also, here are several other great Inception resources I have come across – sites, articles, notes, videos – that I thought you might like.  Enjoy!

1. The official Inception web site is pretty cool and has a lot of great info.  You can skip past the trailer to enter the main site. Look closely on the left side of the screen and click the Menu.
2. This link on the official Warner Brothers site provides production notes about Inception including how writer/director Christopher Nolan pulled his team together, where and how filming took place, and details about all the major characters and the actors who played them.
3. The 5 Levels of Inception by Matt Sinopoli and Josh Tyler provides a great explanation of each of the levels, including who was dreaming, who was there, and what the goal was of each level.
4. Chris Corbould is the mastermind behind the spinning corridor and other cool moves in Inception. Wired magazine’s Behind the Special Effects of Inception article by Kevin Maher describes how Corbould did it.
5. In Dissecting Inception: Six Interpretations and Five Plot Holes, Peter Hall provides his opinion of what really happened and describes some holes he feels exist in the story.
6. Here is the kick ass Inception soundtrack by Hans Zimmer.  Listen to it while you’re working to make your job at least sound epic.
7. In The Neuroscience of Inception, Jonah Lehrer explains how the very act of watching Inception affects the brain similar to the way a dream does: “…a process in which your senses are hyperactive and yet your self-awareness is strangely diminished.”
8. The company Double Negative was involved in creating the effects for Inception.  Here is Double Negative’s full project list and here is a showreel of their best work.
9. This is a fun video on YouTube that shows Toy Story 3: Inception.
10. Here is some B-roll behind the scenes footage from the movie:

A Kid, a Schmuck, and a Sorcerer walk into a bar…

Yay, it looks like The Kids are Alright is finally going into wider release and I plan to see it this weekend.  Stay tuned for my review.  I also plan to see Despicable Me soon.  I’m undecided about Dinner for Schmucks. 

I have also been thinking about seeing The Sorcerer’s Apprentice, but after seeing Inception, I have a hard time going to see movies that I believe are going to be mediocre.  I know, I know – I need to keep an open mind.  I’m working on it…

Explanation of the Levels of Inception

Yes, it’s another posting about Inception.  What can I say?  I loved the movie.  But let’s face it: it’s pretty complicated.  Again, this is a **SPOILER** for those of you who haven’t seen Inception, so go see it first. Do not click the link.

If you have seen it, here’s a great explanation of The 5 Levels of Inception by Matt Sinopoli and Josh Tyler. Check it out.

If you liked this post, here’s a couple other related posts you might also like these:

• How the Inception Corridor Scenes were Filmed
• The magic of the spinning corridor and 9 other Inception resources

Inception Interpreted

Have you seen Inception yet?  If you haven’t, drop whatever you’re doing and go see it now.  Yeah, it’s that good.  Here’s my review of Inception.

**SPOILER ALERT**

Do not click the following link if you do not want to know what happens in the movie.

Peter Hall has done an excellent job of examining the movie and providing his opinion of what really happened as well as some plot holes he feels exist in the story.  I’m inclined to agree with interpretation #5, but Hall makes some good points in all the interpretations.

First, go see Inception then read Hall’s examination of it: Dissecting Inception: Six Interpretations and Five Plot Holes.

Movie Review: Inception

Odd, mind blowing, thought provoking.  Those were the words my friends used to describe Inception immediately after we saw it.  I will add “complicated.” Inception. Hmm, how in the world can I describe it? Imagine if The Matrix and Vanilla Sky could somehow magically have a child together.  Now imagine if Minority Report came by once in awhile to babysit.

I’m not saying that the plot of Inception is similar to those movies; it’s like them in that they all get you to thinking about whether what the characters are experiencing right now is actually the real world or the alternate/dream world.  Dreams within dreams, several layers deep, with snippets of the subconscience creeping in, all cleverly woven together. What’s real, what’s the dream? Whose dream are we experiencing? Which world are we in right now? Like I said: complicated.  It’s very hard to explain, but interesting.

Leonardo DiCaprio plays Cobb, a thief who has the ability to steal ideas by entering a lucid dream state and then entering other people’s dreams.  Joseph Gordon-Levitt plays Arthur, Cobb’s partner in crime.  One day they are met with an interesting proposition: If you can steal people’s ideas by entering their dreams (extraction), why couldn’t you also do the opposite and implant an idea into someone’s head through his dreams (inception)?  Saito (Ken Watanabe) wants Cobb to find out if it is possible to implant a suggestion into Robert Fischer, Jr’s (Cillian Murphy) mind in a move that would greatly benefit businessman Saito. Cobb has the opportunity to try this scheme in exchange for something he has been wanting for a long time. Ellen Page plays Ariadne, a sharp architect who is brought in to help with the plan. Tom Hardy and Dileep Rao round out the team.

The result is a very complex and elaborate story featuring plenty of topsy turvy, gravity-defying movement and buildings toppling over.  Oh yeah, and the requisite car chases, explosions, and lots of guys shooting at the main characters. I expected even more special effects than there actually was, judging by the trailers, but there was still quite a bit and it was spectacular.

My friends and I spent quite a bit of time talking about Inception afterward, comparing ideas about what was really happening at various scenes and what the ending really meant.  I suggest that if you do go see it, plan to go have dinner or coffee or something afterward so you can discuss it with your movie date(s).  Yes, it’s that kind of movie.

Inception was difficult to follow at times because of the level of complexity, but I liked it. I give Inception four out of five Slurpees.  Go see it and tell me what you think.

* Inception * Director/Writer: Christopher Nolan * Starring: Leonardo DiCaprio, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Ellen Page, Ken Watanabe * Time: 148 minutes * Rated PG-13 * Action/SciFi * Trailer * Soundtrack *

Double Negative Visual Effects

Inception is opening July 16, 2010 and one of the reasons I want to see it is because the special effects look amazing.  This company called Double Negative was involved in creating the effects for Inception and they also worked on the effects for such movies as Iron Man 2, Angels & Demons, Cloverfield, and Sherlock Holmes.

I just watched Sherlock Holmes and I thought the effects were amazing (remember that explosion? Wow!), and the visuals in the previews for Inception look pretty incredible, too.  Double Negative also worked on The Sorcerer’s Apprentice, which also starts this week.

They create some pretty incredible stuff.  Here is Double Negative’s full project list and here’s a showreel of some of Double Negative’s best work. Pretty cool stuff.