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LOS ANGELES : In the dearth of unique thought and ideas that we call Hollywood, Christopher Nolan is a genius. If only because the man has managed to deliver a cinematic rarity during the summer blockbuster season: A thought-provoking, non-sequel, non-franchise, non-reboot, 100-per-cent original, self-written film.
For the sci-fi mind-bender "Inception", Leonard DiCaprio, Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Ellen Page invade dreams in the bid to plant new ideas within a man's mind. The film combines the mind-blowing cerebral twists and turns of Nolan's "Memento" and "Insomnia" with the spectacular action of his two Batman hits ("Batman Begins" and "The Dark Knight").
But even if you are the dude who arguably revived the superhero genre movie with two of the most expertly crafted stories in its patchy history, telling a complex, out-there story still takes time. Ten years to be exact.
"It certainly helped to have made 'The Dark Knight' for Warner Brothers," admitted Nolan to TODAY at the Beverly Hilton in Los Angeles. "They were clearly very receptive to looking at what I was doing next."
The 40-year-old added: "I had gone to the studio 10 years earlier with the project, before I had written it and pitched it to them. They were very interested, but I felt that I couldn't set this up or develop it for the studio ... I had to write the whole thing and have it all planned out (or) it won't make sense."
Making sense, of course, is very important to the man who never stops thinking. "It's fascinating, the idea of our subjective view of the world and the fact that we're imprisoned in our own point of view," he said when we pointed out how most of his films focus on the workings of the human mind.
"I think most of the films I've worked on have, in some way, tried to explore, or mess around, or subvert that notion and highlight the tension between our belief and our objective reality ... I think cinema is a wonderful way of exploring that because it invites the audience to share a point view."
And even if he is one of Hollywood's brainiest directors, Nolan is not one to shy away from admitting his admiration for Tinseltown's more mainstream directors. "I've been inspired by many film-makers over the years. I like Terrence Malick and Nicolas Roeg, and Ridley Scott because he's a tremendous visual director and 'Blade Runner' was a seminal science-fiction movie that had a lot of relevance for our contemporary world," he revealed. "Also, I'd have to mention George Lucas and Steven Spielberg - the sort of blockbuster film-makers I grew up watching.
"One of the things I love about large-scale entertainment is the creative worlds - where you can escape into an alternate reality for a couple of hours. I've always thought that was Hollywood film-making's highest ambition, really."
Then there is the question whether he will be back on board for a third Batman film. It's a simple question - with a not-so-simple answer from Nolan. "For me, the film ("Inception") is not really finished until we know what people, the audience, think of it. So I am still very much in this world.
"But my brother ('Memento' and 'The Dark Knight' scribe Jonathan) is working on the screenplay. Once I surface from this film and from the experience of showing it to people and taking it around the world, then I'll figure out what I'm doing next."
- TODAY/ra
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