As the shootings were ongoing, there were so many things that Ian did with the entire technical side of the movie.
Inception was a hard movie to understand, but Ian took the challenge to his hand right when he started the script.
Therefore, not just once but there were many situations and scenes where he had to take things into his own hands instead of trusting the team with whatever they could come up with.
Among a lot of such scenes that were shot in between six to seven months, some truly were memories— not just for Ian, but for everyone.
-
[Flashbacks]
“Alright! Let’s do it!!” Ian shouted as everyone turned to look at him.
The current scene that was ongoing was of Cobb and his team finding themselves in a position in the back of a van as it plummets off a bridge and into the water below.
To replicate the effect over several takes, the crew couldn’t simply drop the van over the edge; they needed to have more control over its movement and descent.
The solution was somewhat ingenious in its simplicity: build an enormous air cannon that could launch the van and help to consistently control its speed and force as it plunges.
Actor Kenny Peter, whose character was behind the wheel of the van, knew that the sequence would take a month to film, with the cast and crew going off to shoot other scenes before returning to tackle the van sequence over and over again before they got everything right.
“I have got a feeling that this just is going to take a month!” He shouted.
Everyone including Ian laughed at the accuracy.
‘It sure will’ Ian thought to himself.
-
The next unforgettable moment was in Canada.
[CANADA]
It had been three weeks since the crew and the cast came to Canada. Before their arrival, Fortress Mountain Holdings Ltd had to give their permission for the stay and the shooting–which they did, but after two-three weeks of staying.
Although they found the perfect place to build the set, there was one problem with the time they arrived. It was snowing.
In the script, it was evident that it should show snow, and Ian wanted bits and parts of the movie to look realistic—a realistic version that CGI can not bring upon.
In preparing to film the film’s climactic battle set on a snow-covered mountain, the crew was facing a major problem as the filming date approached.
The mountain had no snow.
Cinematographer Raelynn Sawyer recalled a tense few months leading up to filming the pivotal scene, with the crew hoping the Calgary-based set would get the snow needed for the action to take place. Despite their hopes, the art department was sending in pictures of a muddy mountainside instead of the snow blanket they needed.
The team was preparing to make their snow and use CGI to enhance the visuals instead, but that proved unnecessary. It turned out the crew may have gotten more than they bargained for when, the week before shooting was set to start, Calgary was pummelling with the largest blizzard it had seen in a decade, leading to some extremely cold filming days.
With the mountain finally covered in snow, one of the film’s stars, Angelo Richard, faced another problem all his own in getting ready to shoot.
His character was scripted to partake in a thrilling ski and snowmobile chase down the mountain with a group of nameless assassins. The only problem was that Angelo had no idea how to ski.
This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
Angelo was afraid his lack of experience on skis would cost him the role, but in a sort of trial by fire, he taught himself the skills on set.
Ian strapped Angelo to the back of a snowmobile and sent him down the mountain at 40 miles per hour. In the end, Ian was impressed by the actor and how quickly he was able to pick up expertise.
The demolition professionals would fly around the mountain and drop timed explosives at crucial locations throughout the snow banks to create an avalanche once they were detonated.
Several controlled avalanches were set off before the filmmakers got the shots they needed for the final film.
“We tried to do as many things in camera as possible, which is very difficult when you’re in Calgary… Haha! You know it, where it’s going to be cold and there’s going to be extreme temperatures and extreme weather,” Raelynn talked to someone on the phone while explaining about the shot.
-
CLOSE ON Cobb’s face, staring. Fixed.
“Cobb? Cobb?” Ariadne asked.
Ariadne is beside him.
They stand on a cliff, dressed in white snowsuits, carrying white-painted weapons like WWII commandos. Cobb checks his SNIPER RIFLE and examines their objective: a massive FORTIFIED MEDICAL FACILITY a mile below.
“What’s down there?” Ariadne asks.
“Hopefully, the truth we want Fischer to learn,” Cobb replies.
“I meant what’s down there for you?”
Cobb turns to her. Eames, Saito, and Fischer arrive, SKIING down from the hill above.
Cobb pulls Eames out of Fischer’s earshot.
“You’re the dreamer. I need you to draw the security away from the complex.”
“Then who guides Fischer in? You?” Eames asks.
“If I know the route... we could be compromised.”
Eames looks at Cobb, uneasy. Ariadne comes over.
-
“CUT! Come in everyone!” Ian yelled as everyone ran towards the shelter in the freezing weather.
-
[A month later]
“How was this built?”
It was a tall, young man, who worked for the crew who asked the question. Fair enough, the massive train looked exhaustingly amazing to match the description Ian gave.
“You should’ve been here by last week! Ah, talk about this being a piece of work!”
“I can’t believe it, with a little bit of mist… Ian is going to be dazed! No kidding!”
A pivotal moment in Inception also involved a freight train barreling through the middle of a downtown street. However, since the road they were filming on had no train tracks and Ian tried to use as many practical effects as he could, the filmmakers had to improvise to achieve the effect.
Ian felt it was important to feel like Cobb’s subconscious could bring truly dangerous elements into the dreams and felt that the train needed to have the necessary weight behind it. So the effects crew acquired a semi-truck and extended the frame.
They built a shell out of plywood, Plexiglas, and steel that would fit over a truck and replicate a freight train.
The front of the structure contained approximately 1.5 tons of steel so that it could smash into and push cars out of the way without breaking apart.
“This is good!” The worker said while looking at what was in front of them.
“So fucking good!”
As they were taking their time to admire what was in front of them, a voice yelled over, startling their actions.
“Is everyone ready?!” It was Ian.
Once again, the shooting started, and everyone including the crew and the cast gave their maximum for the day.
-
The cast sat in the corner of the set. It was a small break, and Ian overheard something while he was busy reading some parts of the script which made him smile.
Darlene Krouse was an A-listed actress who won an Oscar last year for her incredible performance in the movie, Free Bird.
RedBo referenced her to Inception, and she ended up getting the part of Mal.
“How do you play someone who is so mysterious and who has so many layers? How do you play someone who has so many, I would say, people inside of her? When I was in the process of preparing for the movie, I had so many questions to ask Ian, and he gave me all the answers. Sometimes from one answer, I wouldn’t understand, but then I realised that he’d had this world in him for such a long time. I just had to surrender to my desire to understand everything. I just had to be driven by him, because he had all the answers. Because he was so sure about all those answers, I told myself that maybe I didn’t need all the keys, and that built how I trusted him. It was very interesting because you saw right? Even when we were shooting, sometimes Ian would come up with new scenes, and suddenly something that was not written in the script made sense. It was just yesterday that he came up with a new scene, and suddenly it was as if he had given me a new key that made me understand what I didn’t understand, but without needing to understand.”
The person who was next to her chuckled.
“You sound so adorable right now!”
“Hey! You asked!”
They both laughed together.
“I’m sure this won’t be the last project I’m going to do with Ian. The director is too precious!” Darlene said with huge hopes layered in her voice.
-
A/N; I don't know how I ended up in this situation, but first of all, thank you for all the powerstones and feedback y'all give to HK! Truly, means the world to me.
But, 1. My laptop battery is dead, and without the charger it doesn't work. 2. My phone charger broke, and I use hotspot to write... and even if I didn't use my laptop, I can't use my phone to write because.. Well, it's running out of charge :')
It's too bad when interesting stuff and drama about to come this happens. And it's truly annoying because my writing rhythm gets disturbed.
Done with the ranting! xD I'll try my best, soon as possible to fix all of my problems, hope y'all are fine too!
Gimme powerstones!
Join the dc server to hang out!
And read a few chaps in advanced using -Patreon.com/TC_L! (Remove the front -)