Inception (2010) - Quotes

Taglines: The dream is real.

Taglines: Your mind is the scene of the crime.

About Inception: [[Christopher Nolan; http://herocomplex.latimes.com/movies/christopher-nolan-hollywood-takes-too-many-shortcuts/ Hollywood takes too many shortcuts] * ], Hero.Complex.latimes.com, 8 December 2010

About Inception: The clash of objective reality with our subjective view of the world, that’s pretty interesting stuff. This is something I thought about doing for a very long time. I’ve been thinking about it off and on since I was about 16. It was the approach I wanted to take to an almost alternate reality — approaching the dream life as another state of reality. And one that in certain circumstances can be manipulated.

About Inception: [[Joseph Gordon-Levitt; http://herocomplex.latimes.com/movies/christopher-nolan-hollywood-takes-too-many-shortcuts/ Hollywood takes too many shortcuts] * ], Hero.Complex.latimes.com, 8 December 2010

About Inception: Mr. Nolan doesn’t cater to the executives at some big company, he really does what he wants to with a film. He manages to do it within the current big system because he’s that good and he can, but ‘Inception’ and his films aren’t developed by committee. And it wasn’t him saying, ‘How am I going to make a big summer hit?’ ‘Inception’ was about him following his own fascinations.

Saito: [examines Cobb's totem top] Are you here to kill me? I know what this is. I've seen one before, many many years ago. It belonged to a man I met in a half-remembered dream — a man possessed of some radical notions. I'm waiting for someone.

Cobb: Someone from a half-remembered dream.

Saito: Cobb? Impossible. We were young men together. I'm an old man—

Cobb: —filled with regret—

Saito: —waiting to die alone.

Cobb: I've come back for you, to remind you of something, something you once knew: that this world is not real.

Saito: To convince me to honor our arrangement?

Cobb: To take a leap of faith, yes. Come back. So we can be young men together again. Come back with me. Come back.

Maurice Fischer: [in Robert Fischer's dream; on his deathbed] Dis... disa... disap...

Fischer: I know, Dad. I know you were disappointed that I couldn't be you.

Maurice Fischer: No. No, no. I was disappointed... that you tried.

Ariadne: What's happening?

Arthur: [the projections begin staring at them; Arthur and Ariadne kiss] Cobb's drawing Fischer's attention to the strangeness of the dream. Which is making his subconscious look for the dreamer. For me. Quick, give me a kiss.

Ariadne: [confused] They're still looking at us.

Arthur: Yeah, it was worth a shot. We should probably get out of here.

Ariadne: Who or what is "Mr. Charles"?

Arthur: It's a gambit designed to turn Fischer against his own subconscious.

Ariadne: And why don't you approve?

Arthur: Because it involves telling the mark that he's dreaming. Which involves attracting a lot of attention to us.

Ariadne: Didn't Cobb say never to do that?

Arthur: So now you've noticed how much time Cobb spends doing things he says never to do.

Arthur: You couldn't have peed before you went under?

Yusuf: Sorry.

Eames: A bit too much free champagne before takeoff, eh, Yusuf?

Yusuf: [deadpan] Ha ha bloody-ha.

Cobb: Well, we know he's going to be looking for a taxi in this weather.

Saito: Sydney to Los Angeles. One of the longest flights in the world. He makes it every two weeks.

Cobb: He must be flying privately.

Saito: Not if there were unexpected maintenance with his plane.

Arthur: It would have to be a 747.

Cobb: Why is that?

Arthur: Cause on a 747 the pilots up top, and the first class cabin is in the nose, so no one would walk through. But you'd have to buy out the entire cabin. And the first class flight attendant.

Saito: [others look stunned at him] I bought the airline. It seemed neater.

Arthur: So, once we've made the plant, how do we get out? I'm hoping you have something more elegant in mind than shooting me in the head?

Cobb: A kick.

Ariadne: What's a kick?

Eames: [kicks Arthur's chair; Arthur flails but manages to right himself] This, Ariadne, would be a kick.

Cobb: It's that feeling of falling you get that jolts you awake. It snaps you out of the dream.

Eames: On the top level, we open up his relationship with his father. Say, "I will not follow in my father's footsteps". Then, the next level down, we feed him "I will create something for myself". Then, by the time we hit the bottom level, we bring out the big guns:

Cobb: My father doesn't want me to be him.

Eames: Exactly.

Cobb: Mr. Saito, this isn't your typical corporate espionage. You asked me for inception. I do hope you understand the gravity of that request. Now, the seed that we plant in this man's mind will grow into an idea. This idea will define him. It may come to change — well, it may come to change everything about him.

Saito: 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. In effect, they become a new superpower. The world needs Robert Fischer to change his mind.

Cobb: Never re-create places from your memory. Always imagine new places.

Ariadne: You gotta draw from stuff you know, right?

Cobb: Only use details. A streetlamp or a phone booth, Never entire areas.

Ariadne: Why not?

Cobb: Building a dream from your memory is the easiest way to lose your grasp on what's real and what is a dream.

Cobb: Let me ask you a question. You never really remember the beginning of a dream, do you? You always wind up right in the middle of what's going on.

Ariadne: I guess, yeah.

Cobb: So how did we end up here?

Ariadne: [trails off] Well, we just came from the...

Cobb: Think about it, Ariadne, how did you get here? Where are you right now?

Ariadne: We're dreaming?

Cobb: You're actually in the middle of the workshop right now, sleeping. This is your first lesson in shared dreaming

Cobb: Before I describe the job, I have to know you can do it

Ariadne: Why?

Cobb: It's not, strictly speaking, legal.

Saito: Inception. Is it possible?

Arthur: Of course not.

Saito: If you can steal an idea from someone's mind, why can't you plant one there instead?

Arthur: Okay, here's me planting an idea in your head: I say to you, "Don't think about elephants." What are you thinking about?

Saito: Elephants.

Arthur: Right, but it's not your idea because you know I gave it to you. The subject's mind can always trace the genesis of the idea. True inspiration is impossible to fake.

Cobb: That's not true.

Arthur: What the hell was all that?

Cobb: I have it under control.

Arthur: I'd hate to see you out of control.

Cobb: You don't seem to understand, Mr. Saito. The corporation that hired us, they won't accept failure. We won't last two days.

Arthur: [nervous] Cobb.

Cobb: [throws Saito onto the floor] Looks like I'm going to have to do this a little more simply. Tell us what you know! Tell us what you know now!

Saito: [touching the carpet and laughing] I've always hated this carpet — stained and frayed in such distinctive ways, but very definitely made of wool. Right now I'm lying on polyester, which means I'm not lying on my carpet in my apartment. You have lived up to your reputation, Mr. Cobb. I'm still dreaming.

Cobb: Ah, no use threatening him in a dream, right, Mal?

Mal: [suddenly shoots Arthur in the knee] That depends on what you're threatening. Killing him will just wake him up. But pain – Pain is in the mind. And judging by the decor, we're in your mind, aren't we, Arthur?

Robert Fischer: [''after narrowly escaping an avalanche''] Couldn't someone have dreamt up a goddamn beach?!

Eames: Your condescension, as always, is much appreciated, Arthur.

Eames: [In a firefight; Arthur is defending with an assault rifle; hefts a huge grenade launcher] You mustn't be afraid to dream a little bigger, darling.

Mal: You're waiting for a train. A train that will take you far away. You know where you hope this train will take you, but you don't know for sure. Yet it doesn't matter, because we'll be together.

Cobb: Dreams feel real while we're in them. It's only when we wake up that we realize something was actually strange.

Cobb: An idea is like a virus. Resilient. Highly contagious. And even the smallest seed of an idea can grow. It can grow to define or destroy you.

Cobb: Downward is the only way forward.