We previously mentioned that Christopher Nolan had began shooting on his ultra-secretive “Inception” in Japan as of mid-June and, in typical Nolan fashion, had been casting and developing the project under the working title guise of “Oliver’s Arrow” — a possible tribute a son of his named Oliver.
But now, weeks into the shoot, we have grown more intrigued by the fact only Leonardo DiCaprio and Ken Watanabe have been reported as being in Japan involved with the film’s production. Marion Cotillard was doing press for “Public Enemies” as recently as early July in Europe, Joseph Gordon-Levitt is doing press for ‘500 Days Of Summer,” Tom Hardy is currently filming for Gavin O’Connor’s “Warriors” and Michael Caine was still in England earlier this month.
Ellen Page though was interestingly last photographed departing LAX on June 13th, just days before “Inception” reportedly began filming. She is slated to play a young, graduate under DiCaprio’s characters’ wing.
That leaves Cillian Murphy unaccounted for – meaning google searches didn’t yield any reputable information — and, as his IMDB exhibits, no other currently filming projects, could very well mean he is also in Japan.
Cast aside, the question still remains: what the f- is this thing about? Shooting in Tokyo is presumably focusing on the CEO-type protagonist, played by DiCaprio, and the blackmailing antagonist, played by Watanabe, but other than our guessing game, we were absolutely clueless. Well, that was until some “sides” (small portions of the script featuring a character for actors to use in the audition process) claiming to be from “Inception’s” casting process recently came our way. While, the chances of them being the real deal are probably not great, the fact the roles’ potential concurs with the side’s pricing may suggest a possible correlation of these random slices with the film’s script, or even just a close representation of characters and story from it. The first post on the sides also adds that they were directly from the ShowFax website and, further, recent commenting on Awards Daily by readers describing the sides seem to correspond and jive with the leaked set. We still remain skeptical though as the whole thing could ultimately be a set up, wind up or a plant but they’re interesting to note nevertheless.
The sides do continue Nolan’s knack for using fake names with DiCaprio’s character going by the name of ‘Steve Rogers,’ alter ego of Captain America. But we’re sure people with motivation to fake this stuff would be smart enough to take Nolan’s history into consideration. The comic-book connection also leads us to believe the film faux-title “Oliver’s Arrow” is referencing Oliver Queen, better known as the Green Arrow. The released sides also include characters named ‘James,’ ‘Phillipa,’ a ”Japanese Security Guard,’ an ‘Elderly Japanese Man,’ an ‘Attendant,’ a ‘Thin Man,’ and a ‘Cabdriver.’
The title character in the ‘James’ sides is described as ‘a little boy’ and is the son of ‘Steve Rogers.’ The scene that takes place between the two involves ‘Rogers’ asking his son mundane questions before having to confirm that the child’s mother is “gone.” The child’s grandmother then refuses ‘Rogers’ request to get her on the phone while ‘Rogers’ admits he “gonna go see Grandpa.” The dialogue is frantic, Rogers is definitely geographically far away — possibly Japan? — and is not exactly calm. The conversation concludes as the child reveals, “Grandma says I have to hang up now.”
The ‘Phillipa’ sides is noted to be a possibly a planted segment placed purely for casting processes. In this ‘Rogers’ simply reaffirms that “Mommy’s gone” and attempts to persuade ‘Phillipa’ to reminisce on ‘Mommy.’ The conversation’s tone is identical to that of ‘James.’
The side titled ‘Japanese Security Guard’ throws us into action as the title character threatens an intruding ‘Rogers’ who simply replies “You don’t understand. I was invited here-” and “if you spoke English, you’d know what a mistake you were making” The guard humorously replies “I speak English. And you are trespassing. Empty your pockets.” Despite ‘Rogers’ claiming “I’m not carrying,” the guard immediately finds a gun in ‘Rogers’’ ankle holster. ‘Rogers’ simply “shrugs. Caught.” as the guard takes him in, letting his compatriots know that he “found an intruder on the west wall” with a confiscated “concealed weapon.”
‘The Attendant’s’ side seems to chronologically follows that of the ‘Japanese Security Guard.’ It involves the title character fearfully talking to a ‘Elderly Japanese Man’ — possibly Watanabe — about an unknown character being “delirious,” carrying a handgun who “asked for [‘Elderly Japanese Man’] by name.” The ‘Elderly Japanese Man’ seems to show no hesitation though in allowing the attendant to bring the unknown character into his dining room demanding ‘The Attendant’ to “Bring him! And some food.”
‘Thin Man’ jumps straight into the deep end as the title character — revealed to be ‘Rogers’ ” attorney — warns Rogers of some sort of imminent threat: “These people what to put you away. Nothing is going to stop them. So as your attorney, I advise you to run.” The two seem to be working under the pressures of the clock as the title character begins the conversation; “Right now. Or never.” A fast pace runs through the short exchange.
And finally, the ‘Cabdriver’ side follows a car crash scene between ‘Rogers’ and the ‘Cabdriver.’ As the two exit, ‘Cabdriver’ begins yelling out threats. ‘Rogers’ then reveals a silenced pistol to which both return to their cars and pull away. The scene is obviously dominated by the action of the car crash.
For all we know these sides could be pulling our leg or just straight up planted misinformation. But if they are, in fact, from the script or indicative of it we can at least draw a few things out of it. The film seems to be some sort of unraveling mystery for DiCaprio’s ‘Steve Rogers’ possibly beginning with him in Japan finding Watanabe, the ‘Elderly Japanese Man.’ The mystery seems to involve his wife (Cotillard), as the conversation with his son implies, and possibly the woman known as ‘Grandma’ who we think reads very suspiciously.
Given the fact that the film has been called an “actioner within the architecture of the mind,” if any of this is true it could hint at some sort of “Memento”-like memory loss picture while on the run. Identity theft is big these days too, no?
It’s not much but it might be start, right? Nothing from the sides suggests “sci-fi” but there is a lot of mystery surrounding it as well as the “actioner” aspect of the film’s aforementioned logline. London, L.A., Paris, Tangiers and Calgary are still left on the film’s schedule and will probably be where keen paparazzi are sure to try and invade. Half of us wants to hear all about this film but the other half revels at the prospect of walking into it blind.
“Inception” is due out July 16th, 2010.
