FILM · 2010 · UK
Inception
- Directed by
- Christopher Nolan
- Runtime
- 148 min
- Studio
- Warner Bros. Pictures
34 archived facts 3 topics 1 source Last reviewed Sep 2026
Cobb, a skilled thief who commits corporate espionage by infiltrating the subconscious of his targets is offered a chance to regain his old life as payment for a task considered to be impossible: "inception", the implantation of another person's idea into a target's subconscious.
Summary: TMDB
20 Facts From Behind the Scenes of Inception
- #014
Inception shot in the United Kingdom at a converted airship hangar in Cardington, Bedfordshire, north of London, where a hotel bar set tilted 30 degrees was built.
- #015
Production designer Guy Hendrix Dyas, special effects supervisor Chris Corbould and director of photography Wally Pfister built a hotel corridor for Inception that rotated a full 360 degrees, creating alternate directions of gravity for scenes in the second level of dreaming.
- #017
The Inception filmmakers initially intended the hallway to be 40 feet (12 m) long, but extended it to 100 ft (30 m) as the action sequence grew more elaborate; the corridor hung from eight large concentric rings spaced evenly outside its walls and was driven by two massive electric motors.
- #018
Christopher Nolan described the spinning corridor device as like some incredible torture device and said the cast thrashed Joseph Gordon-Levitt for weeks, but that the resulting footage looked unlike anything any of them had seen before.
- #019
Joseph Gordon-Levitt recalled that the work involved six-day weeks and coming home at night battered, and that the ceiling light fixtures came around on the floor, requiring him to choose the right time to cross through them or fall.
- #020
For the Paris shoot of Inception, the production filmed Cobb entering the college of architecture at the Musée Galliera, the pivotal Ariadne and Cobb scenes in a fictional bistro set up at the corner of Rue César Franck and Rue Bouchut, and scenes on the Bir-Hakeim bridge.
- #021
Because local authorities refused permission to use real explosives for the bistro explosion in Inception, high-pressure nitrogen was used to simulate a series of explosions.
- #022
The visual effects team on Inception augmented the bistro explosion sequence with additional destruction and flying debris, while the "Paris folding" sequence and Ariadne's creation of the bridges used green screen and CGI on location.
- #023
Tangier, Morocco, served as the filming location for Mombasa in Inception, where Cobb recruits Eames and Yusuf.
- #024
A foot chase in Inception was filmed in the streets and alleyways of Tangier's historic medina quarter.
- #025
Tangier also provided the setting for a riot scene filmed during Inception's initial foray into Saito's mind.
- #026
The interior rooms of Saito's Japanese castle were among the sets constructed on a Warner Bros. sound stage, while the castle exterior was shot on a small set built in Malibu Beach.
- #027
Inception's dining room set drew inspiration from the historic Nijō Castle, which was built around 1603.
- #028
The sets for Inception were inspired by a mix of Japanese architecture and Western influences.
- #029
For Inception, the filmmakers staged a multi-vehicle car chase on the streets of downtown Los Angeles that included a freight train crashing down the middle of a street. To create the train, they mounted a train engine on the chassis of a tractor trailer, using a replica made from fiberglass molds taken from authentic train parts and matched in color and design.
- #030
The Inception car chase was meant to take place during a downpour, but Los Angeles weather remained typically sunny. The filmmakers therefore used elaborate effects, such as rooftop water cannons, to make the weather appear overcast and soggy.
- #031
Los Angeles was also the location for Inception's climactic scene in which a Ford Econoline van runs off the Schuyler Heim Bridge in slow motion. The sequence was filmed on and off for months, with the van shot out of a cannon, according to actor Dileep Rao.
- #032
Filming the actors suspended inside the van in slow motion for Inception took an entire day.
- #033
During the underwater sequence of Inception, the actors had to remain submerged for four to five minutes while breathing from scuba tanks, and underwater buddy breathing is shown in that sequence.
- #034
Cillian Murphy said that once the van landed in the water, the actors' challenge was to avoid panic, adding that being asked to act in that situation is a bit of an ask.
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Reference databases
Sources for the entries on this page
- Wikipedia Inception — Wikipedia
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