Christopher Nolan - Inception - The Shooting Script

Arthur picks up his mechanism.

ARTHUR

Shall we take a look at paradoxical architecture?

Ariadne nods, takes off her coat and we—

CUT TO:

INT. PENROSE STEPS — LATER

Arthur leads Ariadne down some busy steps in a large glass and steel ATRIUM in an office complex.

ARTHUR

You’re going to have to master a few tricks if you’re going to build three complete dream levels.

A SECRETARY DROPS some papers as they pass…

ARIADNE

What sort of tricks?

They take a tight turn and continue down the next flight.

ARTHUR

In a dream, you can cheat architecture into impossible shapes.

(MORE)

ARTHUR (CONT’D)

That lets you create closed loops, like the Penrose Steps. The infinite staircase.

Ariadne FREEZES — THEY ARE IN THE EXACT SPOT THEY STARTED DESCENDING FROM, next to the Secretary gathering her papers.

Ariadne puzzles at the impossible construction of the stairs.

ARTHUR

See…

Arthur stops her gently — they are on the highest step, with a LARGE DROP to the next step. Arthur gestures at the drop.

ARTHUR

Paradox. A closed loop like this helps you disguise the boundaries of the dream you’ve created.

ARIADNE

How big do the levels have to be?

ARTHUR

Anything from the floor of a building, to an entire city. But it has to be complicated enough for us to hide from the projections.

ARIADNE

A maze.

ARTHUR

And the better the maze—

ARIADNE

The longer we have before the projections catch us.

Ariadne looks around. Sees people LOOKING at Arthur.

ARIADNE

My subconscious seems polite enough.

ARTHUR

You wait, they’ll turn ugly. No one likes to see someone else messing around in their mind.

ARIADNE

Cobb can’t build anymore, can he?

ARTHUR

I don’t know if he can’t, but he won’t. He thinks it’s safer if he doesn’t know the layouts.

ARIADNE

Why?

ARTHUR

He won’t tell me. I think it’s Mal. I think she’s getting stronger.

ARIADNE

His ex-wife?

ARTHUR

She’s not his ex.

ARIADNE

They’re still together?

Arthur turns to Ariadne. Gentle.

ARTHUR

No. No, she’s dead, Ariadne. What you see in there is just his projection of her.

ARIADNE

What was she like in real life?

ARTHUR

(quiet)

She was lovely.

CUT TO:

EXT. ROOFTOP, OLD TOWN, MOMBASA — DAY

Saito deposits a FILE in front of Cobb: PHOTOS, DOCUMENTS. As Cobb runs through them, he passes them to Eames.

SAITO

Robert Fischer, 32. Heir to the Fischer Morrow energy conglomerate. He’s spent his whole life being groomed as successor — breaking up his father’s empire will take a radical shift in his thinking.

COBB

What’s your problem with Fischer?

SAITO

That’s not your concern.

COBB

This isn’t the usual corporate espionage, Mr. Saito. This is inception . The seed of the idea we plant will grow in this man’s mind. It’ll change him. It might even come to define him.

Saito looks at Cobb.

SAITO

My sources suggest you might not have always been so cautious.

COBB

Then you need new sources, Mr. Saito.

Saito considers Cobb. Shrugs.

SAITO

Fischer Morrow has the regulators in their pockets. We’re the last company standing between them and total energy dominance and we can no longer compete. Soon they’ll control the energy supply of half the world. They’ll be able to blackmail governments, dictate policy. In effect, they become a new superpower. The world needs Robert Fischer to change his mind.

EAMES

That’s where we come in. How’s Robert Fischer’s relationship to his father?

SAITO

Rumor is the relationship is complicated.

COBB

We’ll need more than rumor, Mr. Saito.

Eames picks up a photo: a distinguished executive (68).

EAMES

Can you get me access to him? Browning. Fischer senior’s right-hand man. Fischer junior’s godfather.

SAITO

It should be possible. If you can get the right references.

EAMES

References are something of a specialty for me, Mr. Saito.

EXT. DECREPIT BUILDING, MOMBASA — LATER

Eames leads Cobb and Saito down uneven steps to a doorway.

INT. STAIRWELL — CONTINUOUS

Peeling paint, buzzing flies. They ascend to a dusty, wire-reinforced glass door which Eames pushes open—

INT. PHARMACY — CONTINUOUS

Row upon row of wooden shelves holding hundreds of dusty glass bottles of all shapes and colors. At the far end, a portly 40-year-old man rises from behind his desk, beckoning. This is YUSUF.

YUSUF

Come, come.

Eames shakes Yusuf’s hand. Yusuf stops at Cobb.

YUSUF

Ah, yes. Mr. Cobb. I’ve heard so very much about you.

(indicates chairs)

please.

Yusuf chases a CAT off Saito’s chair.

YUSUF

Bloody cats.

Yusuf moves to a shelf and runs his fingers over the glass bottles. None of them has a label.

YUSUF

You work using Somnacin, I think, Mr. Cobb?

COBB

You’re well informed, Mr. Yusuf.

Yusuf places a bottle on the desk in front of Cobb.

COBB

(dubious)

Somnacin?

YUSUF

(proudly)

Yusuf’s Somnacin.

Yusuf pulls the stopper, holds it towards Cobb’s nose.

COBB

As good as the real thing?

Yusuf WHIPS the bottle away from Cobb, offended.

YUSUF

Better.

Yusuf holds the bottle to the light, marveling.

YUSUF

Binds the dreamers tight. Let’s them dream as one. Makes it real. Of course, if you’d prefer, you could use Somnacin brand. If you could explain to the international control council what you wanted it for.

Yusuf puts the bottle back onto the shelf. Sits.

YUSUF

You are seeking a chemist?

(Cobb nods)

To formulate compounds for a job?

COBB

And to come into the held with us.

YUSUF

I rarely go into the held, Mr. Cobb.

COBB

We need you there to tailor compounds to our particular requirements.

YUSUF

Which are?

COBB

Great depth.

YUSUF

A dream within a dream? Two levels?

COBB

Three.

YUSUF

Not possible. That many dreams within dreams would be too unstable.

COBB

I’ve done it before. You just have to add a sedative.

YUSUF

A powerful sedative. How many team members?

COBB

Five.

SAITO

Six.

(to Cobb)

The only way to know you’ve done the job is if I go in with you.

COBB

There’s no room for tourists on these jobs, Mr. Saito.

SAITO

This time, it would seem there is.

Cobb looks at him, uneasy. Yusuf pulls out another bottle.

YUSUF

Of course. I use it every day.

Yusuf hands it to Cobb, who considers the white liquid inside.

COBB

For what?

Yusuf beckons them further into the pharmacy, to a METAL DOOR. He STOPS — second thoughts.

YUSUF

Perhaps… you will not want to see.

Cobb motions to continue. Yusuf pulls out a large key.

INT. BACK ROOM, PHARMACY — CONTINUOUS

A dark room with ROWS of low COTS. Each with a sleeping occupant. Tubes connect their wrists. An ELDERLY BALD MAN watches over them.

EAMES

(counting)

Eighteen, twenty — all connected, bloody hell.

YUSUF

They come every day. To share the dream.

Yusuf nods at the Elderly Bald Man, who moves to the nearest bed. Reaches out to the OCCUPANT. Gives his face a FIRM SLAP. The sleeper does not even stir.

YUSUF

See? Very stable.

COBB

How long do they dream?

YUSUF

Three, four hours. Every day.

COBB