Chapter 737: A Genius Innovation

Los Angeles was exceptionally hot this year. The blazing sun seemed to scorch every inch of the land. Driven by the heatwave, a sudden forest fire had broken out in the San Gabriel Mountains behind the city. Billowing smoke shot into the sky, pushing the temperature across dozens of surrounding miles even higher, as if the entire basin had been shoved into a furnace.

The terrible weather and raging forest fire disrupted daily life and work across the Los Angeles area. A few companies near the San Gabriel Mountains simply gave their employees time off.

None of this affected Duke's pre-production. Once Warner Brothers' initial $60 million hit the accounts, preparations rolled out smoothly.

Duke first took Hannah Serena and John Schwartzman on a location-scouting trip that lasted over ten days, visiting Paris, France, and Tokyo, Japan, alongside several other countries. After finalizing the exterior locations, he hurried back to Los Angeles to inspect the sets built in the soundstages.

Just as Duke had anticipated during the press conference, this movie would feature a substantial amount of location shooting spanning several countries and regions, but it wouldn't make up the majority of the film. The most important scenes would still be shot against green screens on soundstages and generated via CGI.

Of course, Duke wasn't going to shoot on film. He would rely primarily on digital technology. Moreover, aside from using IMAX Cameras, the movie was undoubtedly going to be a 3D film.

Duke could not afford to ignore the high ticket prices for 3D films. Avatar was about to be released, and over the next year—and the two or three following it—the market would be practically salivating for 3D movies. Especially in the aftermath of the Avatar craze, audience enthusiasm for 3D could only be described as incredible. This was the exact phenomenon that would lead to the massive box office success of Disney's post-converted 3D release, Alice in Wonderland.

After acquiring Relativity Company's investments in several films, Duke now held a partial stake in Alice in Wonderland. However, he wasn't going to let that movie feast alone on the 3D frenzy brought about by Avatar. He had already negotiated with Warner Brothers to release several post-converted 3D films of their own in the same vein as Alice in Wonderland when the time was right.

Duke's plan was to convert The Lord of the Rings trilogy into 3D, riding the coattails of Avatar to make another fortune. Even though the franchise had already released three different DVD editions, capital never argued with profit.

The plan to convert The Lord of the Rings trilogy into 3D would officially launch next month. It would then return to theaters in January, kicking off yet another money-printing tour.

Inside a massive soundstage at Warner Studios, Duke walked past the towering green screens, evaluating whether they met his exact needs. Every so often, he would call the relevant supervisors over to issue instructions and make necessary adjustments on the fly.

Passing through the forest of green screens, he arrived at the physical set construction area. In today's Hollywood, even extremely CGI-reliant blockbusters like Transformers and Avatar still utilized physical sets for certain scenes.

Duke first approached a staircase, walked up, circled it, and gave a thumbs-up to the special effects team responsible for its construction. Referencing the Penrose Stairs designed by optical illusion master Escher, the team had built an actual physical set of a closed staircase that appeared as an infinite loop from a specific angle.

To shoot the zero-gravity scenes in the hotel, Duke had the special effects team build an entire corridor set inside a massive "Universal Ring" rig.

After circling the set construction area, Duke walked over to a train model. It was a practical prop, internally driven by a truck and several trailers, with a fiberglass train shell fitted over the exterior to pass for the real thing.

There were many other models nearby, either finished or still under construction—like the miniatures used to shoot the snowy mountain fortress...

Leaving the soundstage, Duke entered the adjacent actor rehearsal hall. Inside, the cast—led by Leonardo DiCaprio, and including Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Scarlett Johansson, Ken Watanabe, James Franco, and Mark Ruffalo—was rehearsing several scenes that required tight coordination.

Actors always underwent a certain degree of rehearsal prior to filming, but it was especially vital for an ensemble cast like this one. This heist team needed to build seamless chemistry.

And it wasn't just during rehearsals. Even while on break, Leonardo DiCaprio and the other five actors addressed one another exclusively by their character names, immersing themselves in their roles as quickly as possible.

In Duke's eyes, the dynamic between these six individuals and their ultimate objective felt exactly like the process of producing a movie.

Looking at it from a different angle: Saito was the film production company, insisting on supervising the process; Arthur handled logistics and ensured everything ran smoothly, acting as the producer; Cobb directed the operation and brought others into his dream and vision, serving as the director; Ariadne constructed the dreamscape, making her the screenwriter; Eames specialized in disguise and transformation, making him the actor; Yusuf supplied the sedatives, representing the technical department; and Fischer was the audience...

Many, many screenwriters had a half-written tome sitting in their drawers. They always hoped that "someday, I'll pick this back up and finish it," but in reality, very few ever actually did.

That was especially true for a script like Inception. If a director without a certain level of status and influence pitched it, Hollywood studios likely wouldn't even give it the time of day. In that regard, the original Christopher Nolan had been a very clever man who thoroughly understood how Hollywood operated.

This director insisted on "originality," yet he wasn't rigidly bound to it. He knew full well that Hollywood rarely favored "original" concepts from ordinary directors, screenwriters, or producers. When he first broke into the mainstream industry, he targeted adaptations. It was only by riding the massive success of those adapted films that he earned the opportunity to shoot his big-budget, massive-scale "original" productions.

"To me, the cinema is an experience very much like a dream."

During their break, the actors gathered around Duke to discuss the film and their characters.

When Joseph Gordon-Levitt asked about the origin of the film's concept, Duke could only bluff his way through it: "I've always been fascinated by dreams and wanted to make a movie about them. I feel like there's a connection between how imagination works in a dream and how it works in a story you create yourself. Watching a movie is a lot like experiencing a dream, and embracing that concept inside a theater should be a unique experience."

"Dreams also visually influence many directors' creations."

James Franco, often dubbed a Hollywood eccentric, chimed in to agree with Duke. "In my dreams, I often get these bizarre images or little elements. The moment I wake up, I write them down immediately."

"Oh, oh, oh..." Joseph Gordon-Levitt deliberately teased him. "So James has dreams of becoming a director too."

James Franco shrugged, making no attempt to deny it. "I'd love to become a comedy director, Joseph. We could work together when the time comes."

Everyone burst out laughing. Joseph Gordon-Levitt's current style leaned heavily toward the arthouse side; it seemed highly unlikely that he would ever star in a crude slapstick comedy.

"I'll admit, my dreams don't give me much inspiration for story elements," James Franco added, "but I do believe the human brain can solve problems while we sleep."

Duke resonated deeply with that and gave a slight nod. "I always think about things right before bed. In that state of consciousness, I often get a flash of inspiration right before I actually fall asleep. If you're agonizing over a script to the point where you want to bash your head against a wall, and then you tell yourself before getting into bed, 'Alright, stop thinking about it, it's time to sleep,' and you actually stop thinking about it—that often frees up another part of your brain, which ends up giving you the exact answer you needed."

"Dreams really are a magical thing," Scarlett Johansson said as she handed Duke a glass of water. "For the past ten years, I've been having the exact same dream over and over again..."

Leonardo DiCaprio winked at Scarlett. "Has your dream come true, darling?"

"Of course!" Scarlett looked at Duke, her lips curving into a gorgeous smile. "When a dream comes true, it's exceptionally beautiful and sweet."

Led by James Franco, the surrounding actors erupted into a chorus of teasing hoots.

Perhaps because the main cast was almost entirely male, and the sole prominent actress was the director's girlfriend, the internal atmosphere on set was far more harmonious than it had been during the filming of Fury Road. Even if the actors had their own hidden agendas and ambitions, they wouldn't behave like Tom Cruise and Charlize Theron, who had practically written "I don't like you" across their faces.

The conversation gradually circled back to the movie and the script. Duke and Scarlett had prior engagements and left early.

Watching Duke's departing back, Leonardo DiCaprio said, "When I first read the script, I thought Duke was setting this up as a straightforward heist film. A corporate espionage team led by Cobb uses dreams to invade an unsuspecting target and steal their ideas. That alone is a solid enough premise for a great movie."

He shrugged and continued in a slightly playful tone, "But Duke obviously has much higher ambitions. He's always been interested in peeling back the layers of someone's psyche. If all you do is go in there and take something, it just isn't compelling enough."

"I've talked with Duke extensively about this, and he set a much grander goal for himself. The mission he gave this crew of master thieves is..."

Leonardo's face showed a trace of genuine admiration. "To plant an idea inside someone else's mind—an idea that they would normally resist under regular circumstances. But through their schemes, that idea takes root and sprouts, ultimately leading the target to act exactly as their employer desires. It's a genius innovation!"

James Franco nodded solemnly, picking up right where Leonardo left off. "If you need to plant something in someone's subconscious and have it grow in a highly specific way, you first have to anticipate how it might grow in chaotic, unpredictable ways—that seems to be the biggest takeaway we can draw from the script."