Yesterday, we were able to see a pair of interviews with Leonardo DiCaprio and Joseph Gordon-Levitt along with two Christopher Nolan interviews and more Inception B-roll footage. Today, we have eight new interviews with Ellen Page, Tom Hardy, Marion Cotillard, Ken Watanabe, Michael Caine, Dileep Rao, Emma Thomas, and Chris Brigham.
Beware. These interviews contain a few mild spoilers.
It sounded more than a little unbelievable when reports came in last night that a new Inception TV spot was taking up an entire commercial break during a re-run of Last Comic Standing on NBC. Today, however, it appears early word was spot-on as the new Inception Character Featurette is now online over at MSN UK. The featurette is two minutes in length and features more new footage and dialog than anything we’ve seen since the third trailer was released in back May. But those avoiding spoilers shouldn’t be too concerned. The aptly titled “Character Featurette” is focused more on introducing the main characters of the film than revealing any new plot information. This featurette should prove to be very effective if it continues to air as an extended TV spot, providing more clarification for viewers than any number of the shorter TV spots could.
Thanks to apw on the forums for the tip!
Seven new character posters were released today via Empire. What makes these especially exciting is that they each hint at what role the character will play in the film. Leonardo DiCaprio is The Extractor, Ken Watanabe is The Tourist, Joseph Gordon-Levitt is The Point Man, Marion Cotillard is The Shade, Ellen Page is The Architect, Tom Hardy is The Forger, and Cillian Murphy is The Mark.
For those unfamiliar with heist terminology, the “mark” is the target for the job. Page’s character, who was confirmed to be an architectural student in the third trailer, appears to be the architect for dream construction. Gordon-Levitt will be the muscle of the operation and a lookout, while DiCaprio will be responsible for actually retrieving the information. Tom Hardy is a forger, perhaps able to replicate and replace whatever it is that DiCaprio extracts from a mind. Cotillard’s title might be a spoiler for some, but for those of you who would like to learn more I’ll point you to the Wikipedia page for Shade. Watanabe as “The Tourist” is the big question mark for me. Could it have to do with him being the foreigner in the operation? Or relating to globetrotting aspect? And although a character poster for Michael Caine was not expected considering his small role, where does this leave Tom Berenger’s character?
Every March, the Nielsen Film Group puts on an exhibition in Las Vegas for the National Association of Theatre Owners; this event is known as ShoWest. Some of the biggest movie studios in Hollywood attend the event every year, and this year (like most) Warner Bros was there. With Warner Bros. today was writer/director Christopher Nolan and his upcoming film Inception. According to reports, Chris was still very secretive about the plot details while presenting new footage from the film. The presentation amounted to being the length of an extended trailer or so, and it didn’t seem to give any more indication to what exactly Inception is about. In fact, some people claim to be more confused! However, El Guapo from Latino Review seems to have a better understanding of just what exactly Leonardo DiCaprio’s character is doing. “[He] leads a team of security people who go into people’s dreams to ‘guard their subconscious’”. Something he supposedly explains with Joseph Gordon-Levitt’s character to (Ken Watanabe’s character) Sato.
Journalists at the event claim the footage reveals that there is a lot of action and mind-warping effects shots. Fabulous location footage from Paris and Canada were also revealed, as well as Michael Caine’s and Marion Cotillard’s characters. Just in case you’re trying to keep your mind fresh for when Inception hits theaters on July 16th, we won’t reveal anymore here. But if you want to learn more about what was shown, you can read reports at Latino Review, ComingSoon and CinemaBlend.
Alexandra Burroughs wrote a couple articles for various Canadian Publications this week talking about Inception‘s top-secret production heading to Calgary later this month. Apparently crew members have been constructing an “enormous mountaintop building” for the film for the past several months. This top-secret set has been built in a remote location in the foothills west of Calgary, Canada. Alexandra writes about Nolan being famous for keeping his movies a secret until their release. She mentions the fake working title of Oliver’s Arrow, the “crippling” NDA’s, and the scripts that are apparently resistant to photocopying.
The set has been built at the top of an abandoned ski hill in Kananaskis. It is on public land, but the area is difficult to reach. Although hikers and mountain-bike enthusiasts may have come across the set throughout the past three months while it was under construction, the area will now be patrolled by security guards 24 hours a day. Cold weather and off-season tourism will help keep casual fans at bay, but there may be no avoiding the paparazzi.
Time will tell how well the security holds up on the set. Pictures from the various production locations across the globe managed to come out, but something tells me this location will be different. The move to Canada will be will be turn to the home-stretch for Inception‘s production, which as been active since June of this year. Stick tuned for more updates.
