- Title: USA: Leonardo DiCaprio and co-stars attend Los Angeles premiere of "Inception"
- Date: 14th July 2010
- Summary: (SOUNDBITE) (English) LEONARDO DICAPRIO, STAR OF "INCEPTION," SAYING: "I've never done a film even in the science fiction genre, so for me, it was kind of important to have characters that, even though they go into four different stages of the dreamscape, they're very grounded in a kind of emotional reality, and my character has a very specific, cathartic journey that he goes on in this film, to come to terms with his past and the love of his wife in the dreamscape, and we worked a lot on it, we really spent three months just talking about it." WIDE OF CARPET ACTRESS ELLEN PAGE TALKING TO REPORTER (SOUNDBITE) (English) ACTRESS ELLEN PAGE, SAYING: "Yeah, I think he doesn't patronize audiences, I think it's an illusion that audiences can't handle more complex films, and it's kind of insulting, and I know when I'm being spoon-fed in a movie, you've lost me, and Chris Nolan, yes, he makes an incredible action movie with unbelievable visual spectacles, but ultimately, his stories are so sincere and honest, and I know that's why I adore them." DICAPRIO, PAGE, AND COTILLARD (SOUNDBITE) (English) LEONARDO DICAPRIO, SAYING: "I like that this film is clouded in a little bit of mystery, I like that there's questions about it, and I also feel it's a thinking person's film, and people have their own, extract their own sort of logic from it and have their own interpretation of it, and those are the types of films that I'd love to be a part of more often." WIDE OF CARPET WITH DIRECTOR CHRISTOPHER NOLAN AND WIFE IN CENTER (SOUNDBITE) (English) CHRISTOPHER NOLAN, DIRECTOR OF "INCEPTION," SAYING: "Well, I think, yeah, as a director, what you want to do is you want to avail yourself of the creative input of all the great people you work with, I mean, when you work with Leo and Joe and Tom, all these terrific actors who bring something to the table, you want to give them a little space to put something there, as a writer/director, you've got the script, you've got your idea of what it's going to be, but then you've got all these great talented people coming in and making it much more than you could have imagined." DICAPRIO AND WATANABE (SOUNDBITE) (English) LEONARDO DICAPRIO, SAYING: "We had lots of discussions about the intricacies of this plot, how we really combined so many different story structures together, and he was very specific about saying 'I don't want to underestimate the audience, I want to challenge them, and I want to encompass everything that I can spectacle-wise, special effects wise, but emotionally, and plot structure-wise, it has to be everything,' so this is a grand culmination of eight years of thought for him, and I think he pulled it off with flying colors, I really do." COTILLARD AND PAGE TALKING TO REPORTERS CLOSEUP OF COTILLARD ACTOR JOSEPH GORDON-LEVITT ON THE RED CARPET (SOUNDBITE) (English) ACTOR JOSEPH GORDON-LEVITT, SAYING: "Yeah, I loved the script, it's a real pleasure to read something that you don't know exactly what's going to happen next, and so many scripts, especially big action movies, are really formulaic and predictable, and Chris Nolan's a master storyteller, it was a real pleasure for me." ACTOR CILLIAN MURPHY SPEAKING TO REPORTER (SOUNDBITE) (English) ACTOR CILLIAN MURPHY, SAYING: "I'd say it's unlike anything you've seen before, it's one of the few original movies around today, and it will challenge you, but ultimately reward you." (SOUNDBITE) (English) LEONARDO DICAPRIO, SAYING: "It's a huge, huge tragedy, and there's going to be reparations for months, and years, and years, and years to come, really. And I hope BP upholds their responsibility, they owe that to us." DICAPRIO TALKING TO REPORTERS WITH ZOOM OUT TO WIDE OF RED CARPET
- Embargoed: 29th July 2010 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: Usa
- Country: USA
- Reuters ID: LVAL6GP548P9I9L8MXE8SBJ5UZV
- Story Text: Actor Leonardo DiCaprio joined his co-stars Marion Cotillard, Ellen Page, Cillian Murphy, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, and director Christopher Nolan for the red carpet premiere of science fiction flick "Inception" on Tuesday (July 13).
The mind-bending film has been building a positive buzz among film critics, and could prove to be a heavyweight at the box office when it arrives in theaters later this week.
The movie sees DiCaprio as Dom Cobb, a thief who - with the help of a team of dream weavers - steals valuable secrets from deep within people's subconscious while they are unconscious.
Speaking to reporters at the premiere at Grauman's Chinese Theater in Hollywood, DiCaprio revealed his happiness at the film's secretive publicity campaign.
"I like that this film is clouded in a little bit of mystery, I like that there's questions about it, and I also feel it's a thinking person's film, and people have their own, extract their own sort of logic from it and have their own interpretation of it, and those are the types of films that I'd love to be a part of more often," says DiCaprio.
"Inception" boasts an impressive ensemble cast of actors who are becoming Nolan regulars - Michael Caine, Ken Watanabe, and Cillian Murphy - as well as first time collaborators Ellen Page, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Marion Cotillard and Tom Hardy.
Producing the adventure was no small task. Nolan filmed in 6 different countries around the world and built complicated moving sets in favour of relying too heavily on computer generated effects. But for all the visual effects, director Nolan has stayed true to the basic rules of filmmaking, according to Ellen Page.
"Yeah, I think he doesn't patronize audiences, I think it's an illusion that audiences can't handle more complex films, and it's kind of insulting, and I know when I'm being spoon-fed in a movie, you've lost me, and Chris Nolan, yes, he makes an incredible action movie with unbelievable visual spectacles, but ultimately, his stories are so sincere and honest, and I know that's why I adore them," says Page.
Adds DiCaprio:
"We had lots of discussions about the intricacies of this plot, how we really combined so many different story structures together, and he was very specific about saying 'I don't want to underestimate the audience, I want to challenge them'," says DiCaprio, "So this is a grand culmination of eight years of thought for him, and I think he pulled it off with flying colors, I really do."
For Nolan, who previously directed "The Dark Knight," as well as psychological thrillers "Memento" and "Insomnia," selecting the cast of "Inception" was nearly half the battle in making the film work.
"As a writer/director, you've got the script, you've got your idea of what it's going to be, but then you've got all these great talented people coming in and making it much more than you could have imagined,"
Nolan is currently working on the third installment in his re-imagining of the Batman franchise.
"Inception" is already being hailed by critics as one of the most original big budget films to hit the big screen in recent years. It's also one of the more complex, with characters literally finding themselves stuck in a dream within a dream... within a dream.
"It's a real pleasure to read something that you don't know exactly what's going to happen next, and so many scripts, especially big action movies, are really formulaic and predictable, and Chris Nolan's a master storyteller," says actor Joseph Gordon-Levitt.
"I'd say it's unlike anything you've seen before, it's one of the few original movies around today, and it will challenge you, but ultimately reward you," adds actor Cillian Murphy.
"Inception" hits cinemas in the UK and North America on July 16 before a wider global release. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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