Chapter 746: A Video Game-Like Movie

In an era where only simple, explosive commercial films truly soared in popularity, Inception needed more than just high-quality production to become a massive hit. Beyond Duke's consistently good track record and the box office appeal of actors like Leonardo, the cultural shift brought on by the rise of the internet and video game culture was an undeniable factor.

This was also the core of the promotional strategy Duke had suggested to Warner Brothers: utilizing internet platforms to craft clever marketing campaigns that would guide audiences to approach the film as participants.

In other words, he wanted audiences—already baptized by virtual online societies and role-playing video games—to easily insert themselves into the story as participants, actively involving them in producing the film's meaning. For Inception, this meant that after its release, fans would passionately engage in subjective interpretations of the plot. Combined with the gathering of fan communities and enthusiast culture, this would push the momentum of Inception higher, wave after wave.

Compared to deeper themes or puzzle-solving, this was the true trump card of Inception—getting the audience involved. The execution couldn't be too difficult or highbrow, nor could it be too simple or crude. Just like the scene where Cobb had Ariadne design the maze, the balance of adding and subtracting elements had to be perfect.

As for the video game aspect, that was even easier to understand. If, two hours into the screening, a viewer said, "This is just a video game," then the film would basically be a massive success.

During filming and post-production, Duke placed great emphasis on these elements.

In some ways, Cobb was just like Neo, trapped within the Matrix. Once a person entered the realm of dreams or virtual reality, they fell into an endless loop where anything was possible. The film became a dark party filled with situations where the fake passed for real, and nothingness became substance.

Precisely because it was a dreamscape where one could do whatever they wanted, it provided Duke with a perfect opportunity to create visual spectacles.

To a certain extent, Inception could be considered the dream-heist version of The Matrix. The modern prevalence of video games would allow fans to embrace the story of Inception with even greater fascination.

After wrapping up the Paris shoot, Duke led the crew out of Europe and traveled to Whistler Mountain Ski Resort in Canada to film the bunker attack sequences.

Frankly speaking, the second half of the film was the true key to the success of Inception.

The greatest highlight of Inception lay in resolving the four-layered dream-within-a-dream in its second half. In the original version, Christopher Nolan established a difference in the perception of time across the various dream levels, making audiences hold their breath as they watched a minibus plummet off a bridge. The deepest level featured Cobb visiting the edge of the dreamscape to see his late wife; above that was the snowy mountain shootout; then the zero-gravity hallway fight; and finally, the plunging minibus. The transitions across every level had to be completed simultaneously.

Consequently, whether the bomb would detonate at the last possible second became the audience's greatest concern. Nolan had transformed a seemingly dull dream game into a blockbuster action film, which was the core reason behind the success of Inception.

As for the "last-minute trick" of the Spinning Top still spinning, that was merely a standard Hollywood trope.

Moreover, playing with dreams within dreams so heavily meant there was no need—and largely no way—to clearly explain the ending. How did Cobb wake up in the airplane cabin? Was he still in a dream? Was his late wife's theory about the inability to distinguish reality from dreams actually correct? When the film ended, these questions would linger, and they absolutely had to.

If one really traced it back to its roots, "What is real?" was an eternal philosophical dilemma. Martin Heidegger once said, "The entity whose being is an issue for it is always my own."

Following this rather solipsistic phenomenological philosophy, as long as something felt completely real to the senses, then it was real. If Neo had never woken up in his pod, that virtual world would have been completely real to him, just like his original world. As long as the perceptual system did not raise an alarm, questioning the authenticity of the world was meaningless.

For the audience, however, the greatest significance of these questions was that they would tirelessly search for the truth after watching the film, and then try to convince others of their own version of reality. They would watch the movie over and over again to find evidence proving that their truth was the only truth!

That was the ultimate purpose behind setting up those questions.

Whether the person setting it up was Duke or Christopher Nolan, this aspect was bound to be exactly the same.

The ski resort sequence was one of the areas Duke altered the most. Almost everyone knew that action scenes were Christopher Nolan's weak point, so Duke had a professional team led by Jimmy Carter redesign the entire action sequence. The execution of these explosive scenes felt much closer to his own signature style.

In fact, just as he had done while filming The Dark Knight, Duke scrapped and entirely reworked all the action scenes for Inception. These were what he excelled at most. Even if the action performances of actors like Leonardo DiCaprio and James Franco were somewhat lacking, they had capable stunt doubles ready to step in.

Filming at the ski resort continued until mid-January. Charlize Theron was the first to finish her scenes, as her screen time wasn't extensive to begin with.

Before leaving Whistler Mountain Ski Resort, Charlize Theron specifically sought Duke out.

"Do you have a moment?"

After knocking and entering Duke's room, Charlize Theron glanced at Scarlett, who was studying a script, and asked him, "Can we go for a walk?"

Duke gave Scarlett a nod, pulled his down winter jacket off the coat rack, and put it on. After pulling a knit beanie over his head, he followed Charlize Theron out of the room and left the hotel.

The weather outside was rather gloomy, with the occasional snowflake drifting down. Because it was cold and the atmospheric pressure was a bit low, the two didn't go far, slowly strolling across the small plaza in front of the hotel toward a quieter area.

Their thick leather boots crunched against the bluestone pavement, crushing the fallen snow. Shoving her hands into her pockets, Charlize Theron said, "I just got the news. I've been nominated for the Oscar for Best Actress."

"Congratulations." Duke had already received the news himself.

Charlize Theron stopped walking and turned to look at Duke. "How do you want me to thank you?"

Duke certainly wouldn't misinterpret what she meant. He thought about it for a moment before replying, "If you have time when the next NFL season starts, attend my team's opening game."

The Oakland Raiders franchise he had purchased had relocated to Los Angeles this season and officially changed its name to the Los Angeles Raiders. It was now January 2010, and the Super Bowl was fast approaching. However, after acquiring the contracts of players like Tom Brady and Marshawn Lynch, the Los Angeles Raiders were still in a rebuilding phase this season and hadn't made it into the playoffs.

In the words of the team executive he had hired, the team's poor performance was also partly Duke's fault, because ever since he bought the team, he had never once gone to watch a game in person.

Therefore, Duke planned to pay much more attention to his team next season. After all, the profitability of an NFL franchise was quite substantial.

Without a second of hesitation, Charlize Theron agreed, "I will definitely make time."

With that, the two continued walking forward, and their conversation shifted toward the upcoming Oscars. Duke could easily hear the unspoken truth in Charlize Theron's words: she knew perfectly well that just getting the nomination was a victory in itself. Her chances of taking home the Golden Statuette for her role as Furiosa were practically zero.

Aside from Best Actress, Fury Road hadn't secured any heavyweight Oscar nominations. The rest were all technical categories, such as Best Cinematography, Best Film Editing, Best Makeup, and Best Art Direction.

It was obvious that, outside of acknowledging Charlize Theron's outstanding performance, the School didn't want to give Fury Road any further recognition.

However, in the various polls conducted by the media and audiences, Fury Road was undeniably the biggest winner among all the films released the previous year.

Among the top ten films of 2015 selected by numerous organizations and publications—including the Motion Picture Association of America, the Hollywood Reporter, Empire magazine, Vanity Fair, and the New York Times—Fury Road not only made the lists but claimed the number one spot on every single one!

In various online public polls, Fury Road swept nearly all the "Best Picture of the Year" titles as well.

With all of this, whether or not he had the validation of the School and the Oscars truly didn't matter to Duke.

Besides, this was actually a good thing. If he used up all his luck this year, it would inevitably affect the plans he was currently preparing.

The timeline for this plan was extremely tight. Because he had to account for next year's Oscars, Duke had already instructed Nancy Josephson to submit the registered script draft and rough outline to Warner Brothers' review committee. Once Inception premiered, he would transition completely to working on that new project.

During this shoot, Scarlett only had one brief passing shot left to film. The script she had been studying earlier was exactly for that upcoming project.

Duke knew perfectly well that time was running short, but he had already started formulating a plan following last year's Cannes Film Festival.

Moreover, he didn't want to invest too much time into a purely Oscar-bait film. The few months he managed to compress from the schedule would be perfectly utilized to prep and produce a project that held far more importance to him than a Golden Statuette: The Avengers.

Duke and Charlize Theron gradually reached the edge of the small plaza, and their topic of conversation shifted from the Oscars back to the movie itself.

"Right..." Charlize seemed to recall something. "The latest Hollywood Black List for unproduced scripts is out. Did anything catch your eye?"

"No." Duke shook his head immediately. "I have zero interest in the scripts and projects on that list."

In the current Hollywood landscape—where sequels, remakes, and reboots happened at the drop of a hat—an excellent original script was, to a certain degree, a guarantee of a masterpiece. The Black List might not be a "best" list, but the scripts on it undoubtedly possessed a certain level of quality.

The scripts on the Black List were mostly not large-scale blockbusters, but rather stories that cut deep into characters' inner emotions—in other words, they were essentially low-budget, small-investment indie scripts.

That simply didn't fit Duke's needs at all.