Christopher Nolan - Inception - The Shooting Script

Cobb STUDIES the spin of the top as it decays, becoming more and more ECCENTRIC…

INT. WORKSHOP — CONTINUOUS

ARIADNE

What’s yours?

Arthur holds out a DIE.

ARTHUR

A loaded die.

Ariadne reaches for it — Arthur snatches it away—

ARTHUR

I can’t let you handle it. That’s the point. No one else can know the weight or balance of it.

ARIADNE

Why?

ARTHUR

So when you examine your totem…

INT. BATHROOM, WORKSHOP — CONTINUOUS

Cobb’s spinning top WOBBLES OVER.

ARTHUR (O.S.)

You know, beyond a doubt, that you’re not in someone else’s dream.

Cobb GRABS it like a drowning man reaching for a lifeline.

INT. WORKSHOP — CONTINUOUS

Ariadne thinks this over.

ARIADNE

That’s not an issue for me.

ARTHUR

Why not?

ARIADNE

Arthur, maybe you can’t see what’s going on, maybe you don’t want to. But Cobb’s got problems he’s tried to bury down there. I’m not going to open my mind to someone like that.

Ariadne gets to her feet. Walks away.

COBB (O.S.)

She’ll be back.

Arthur turns. Cobb is standing in the bathroom doorway.

COBB

I’ve never seen anyone pick it up so fast. And one reality won’t be enough for her now. When she comes back, get her building mazes.

ARTHUR

Where will you be?

COBB

I’ve got to talk to Eames.

ARTHUR

Eames? But he’s in Mombasa. Cobol’s backyard.

COBB

Necessary risk.

ARTHUR

There are plenty of other thieves.

COBB

We don’t just need a thief. We need a forger.

INT. GAMBLING DEN, MOMBASA — DAY

Crowded, bustling, smoke-filled. a westerner (40’s), shabby suit, is squeezed in at a dice game. This is EAMES. He FIDDLES with his last two chips.

COBB (O.S.)

Rub them against each other all you like, they’re not going to breed.

Eames looks up to see Cobb.

EAMES

You never know.

Eames tosses down his last chips. The dice are rolled…

COBB

Drink?

Eames loses.

EAMES

You’re buying.

Cobb follows Eames. Eames mysteriously produces two stacks of chips and puts them down in front of the cashier. Cobb pulls one off the top, squints at the embossed name.

COBB

You’re spelling hasn’t improved.

Eames GRABS the chip. Hands it to the cashier.

EAMES

Piss off.

COBB

How’s your handwriting?

Eames takes his money. Smiles at Cobb.

EAMES

Versatile.

INT. STREET, MOMBASA — CONTINUOUS

Eames leads Cobb down the quiet street.

EAMES

Word is, you’re not welcome in these parts.

COBB

Yeah?

EAMES

There’s a price on your head from Cobol Engineering. Pretty big one, actually.

COBB

You wouldn’t sell me out.

Eames looks at Cobb, offended.

EAMES

’Course I would.

COBB

(smiles)

Not when you hear what I’m selling.

EXT. BALCONY OF A COFFEE HOUSE — LATER

A ramshackle balcony overlooking a bust street. Eames pours.

COBB

Inception.

Eames’s glass stops halfway to his mouth.

COBB

Don’t bother telling me it’s impossible.

EAMES

It’s perfectly possible. Just bloody difficult.

COBB

That’s what I keep saying to Arthur.

EAMES

Arthur? You’re still working with that stick-in-the-mud?

COBB

He’s a good point man.

EAMES

The best. But he has no imagination. If you’re going to perform inception, you need imagination.

COBB

You’ve done it before?

EAMES

Yes and no. We tried it. Got the idea in place, but it didn’t take.

COBB

You didn’t plant it deep enough?

EAMES

It’s not just about depth. You need the simplest version of the idea — the one that will grow naturally in the subject’s mind. Subtle art.

COBB

That’s why I’m here.

EAMES

What’s the idea you need to plant?

COBB

We want the heir to a major corporation to break up his father’s empire.

EAMES

See, right there you’ve got various political motivations, anti-monopolistic sentiment and so forth. But all that stuff’s at the mercy of the subject’s prejudice — you have to go to the basic.

COBB

Which is?

EAMES

The relationship with the father.

(downs drink)

Do you have a chemist?

Cobb shakes his head.

EAMES

There’s a man here. Yusuf. He formulates his own versions of the compounds.

COBB

Let’s go see him.

EAMES

Once you’ve lost your tail.

(Cobb reacts)

Back by the bar, blue tie. Came in about two minutes after we did.

COBB

Cobol Engineering?

EAMES

They pretty much own Mombasa.

Cobb glances over the balcony.

COBB

Run interference. We’ll meet downstairs in half an hour.

EAMES

Back here?

COBB

Last place they’d expect.

Eames downs his drink. Rises. Walks over to the Businessman.

EAMES

Freddy!

The Businessman looks up, awkward.

EAMES

Freddy Simmonds, it is you!

Cobb nonchalantly SLIPS over the balcony DROPPING HARD into the midst of the crowd on the street below.

EAMES

(looks harder)

Oh. No, it isn’t.

EXT. STREET, MOMBASA — CONTINUOUS

Cobb stands up, PUSHES into the crowd — faces PEER at him — he moves, trying to blend — TURNS — a SECOND BUSINESS MAN is there.

COBB

(disarming smile)

Yes?

SECOND BUSINESSMAN

We need to—

Cobb HEAD BUTTS the Second Businessman, PUSHES past him—

The First Businessman races out of the bar, sees Cobb’s wake, DIVES after him— Cobb RACES headlong through tight passageways, WEAVING through or KNOCKING into the locals…

He steps into a dark, crowded cafe, scanning the tables… the First Businessman enters, spots him. An AFRICAN MAN gets in Cobb’s face, jabbering at him in Swahili — Cobb considers his options… the First Businessman DRAWS A GUN — Cobb bolts, steps up on a table and out an open window, SCRAMBLING into the alley outside…

Cobb LOOKS left, right… CUTS LEFT into a narrow, CROWDED alley — the alley NARROWS TO A DEAD END. Faces in the CROWD start to watch Cobb — PEOPLE start to SURROUND him — Cobb looks back the way he came — the two Businessmen are there, GUNS DRAWN—

Cobb sees a SMALL GAP between the buildings at the narrow end — he THROWS himself into it — gets STUCK HALFWAY…

The crowd bears down, GRABBING for him as Cobb struggles to SQUEEZE HIMSELF through the gap… Cobb’s moving INCHES as his pursuers gain YARDS… the Crowd is upon him… he BURSTS FREE. TUMBLING onto the next street, ROLLING out of sight.

Cobb Jumps to his feet — in a market square. TWO MORE BUSINESSMEN move towards him. Cobb BOLTS but a CAR SKIDS UP, BLOCKS HIS PATH- the door opens- SAITO IS IN THE BACK.

SAITO

Care for a lift, Mr. Cobb?

COBB

(jumping in)

What brings you to Mombasa, Mr. Saito?

SAITO

I have to protect my investment.

EXT. COFFEE HOUSE — MOMENTS LATER

Eames stands on the pavement. The car pulls up. Cobb beckons from the rear window. Eames looks at Saito. Back to Cobb.

EAMES

This is your idea of losing a tail?

COBB

(shrugs)

Different tail.

INT. WORKSHOP — DAY

Arthur sits at the table, working on a mechanism. A small COUGH prompts him to look up: Ariadne is there.

ARTHUR

He said you’d be back.

ARIADNE

I tried not to come.

ARTHUR

But there’s nothing else quite like it.

ARIADNE

No paper, no pens… nothing between you and raw, direct creation.