Christopher Nolan has been a highly sought-after and popular director since he took Hollywood by storm with Memento. But when he helmed The Dark Knight, Inception.
As a sci-fi heist movie about a team stealing an idea from someone’s dreams, Inception needed some brilliant actors to save audiences’ heads from spinning too much. So, here are all the major performances in Inception, ranked.
Joseph Gordon-Levitt As Arthur
Joseph Gordon-Levitt did all his own stunts in Inception, with the exception of one scene, and this kept a consistency in Arthur’s characterization and body language between the dialogue scenes and the action scenes.
Gordon-Levitt’s commitment to the role of Arthur impressed Nolan so much that he went on to cast him as John Blake – alluded to be Robin – in his subsequent Batman finale, The Dark Knight Rises.
Dileep Rao As Yusuf
According to co-producer Jordan Goldberg, Yusuf was a tough role to cast, because he’s the team’s off-the-books pharmacologist and they needed an actor who wouldn’t play him merely as a drug dealer.
Dileep Rao was chosen because he came off as intelligent and captivating, and he also brought some humor to the role. It’s fair to say they cast the right guy for the part, as Rao gripped moviegoers in what could’ve been a forgettable minor role.
Michael Caine As Professor Stephen Miles
More often than not, when Christopher Nolan is working on a new movie, he has a terrific role in mind for Michael Caine. In Inception, the screen legend plays Cobb’s father-in-law, Ariadne’s college professor, who initially recommends her to fill the traitor’s spot on the team.
In of plumbing the depths of human emotion, Caine doesn’t have as much to do in Inception as he did when he played Alfred in Nolan’s Batman movies, or he later would in Interstellar, but he still gives a fine performance.
Ellen Page As Ariadne
Although Leonardo DiCaprio led the movie’s ensemble cast, Ellen Page had the unenviable task of being the audience surrogate introducing moviegoers to the mind-boggling world of Inception.
As a college student who’s brought onto Cobb’s team as an outsider, she’s our way in to the business of infiltrating dreams and stealing ideas. Page, unsurprisingly, carries this role well, keeping the audience hooked.
Tom Hardy As Eames
Inception marked the beginning of Christopher Nolan and Tom Hardy’s longstanding working relationship. Hardy played Eames as a combination of a Shakespearean charmer and James Bond.
As usual, Hardy oozes charisma, but he also brings certain unique characteristics to Eames: his acid tongue, his quick wits, his subdued campiness.
Pete Postlethwaite As Maurice Fischer
With a history of incredible performances in movies like In the Name of the Father, The Usual Suspects, and The Constant Gardener, Pete Postlethwaite secured his place as an acting legend long before he played Robert Fischer’s ailing father in Inception.
Postlethwaite ed away a few months after Inception came out, which gave his heartfelt, emotionally charged deathbed scenes with Cillian Murphy even more poignancy.
Ken Watanabe As Mr. Saito
The role of Mr. Saito was written specifically for Ken Watanabe, as Christopher Nolan had wanted to work with him again after Batman Begins.
Watanabe’s performance in Inception is mesmerizing. He focused on different aspects of Saito’s characterization as the movie went deeper into the dream levels.
Leonardo DiCaprio As Dom Cobb
The lead role of Cobb was reportedly offered to both Brad Pitt and Will Smith before Leonardo DiCaprio signed on. The character is not a typical hero; he’s haunted by his past and he’s in a mind-melding business, but ultimately, he just wants to get home and see his kids.
Although Pitt and Smith probably would’ve done a fine job, DiCaprio was the perfect choice for this character. He has the brooding intensity to pull off Cobb’s “strong, silent type” vibe.
Cillian Murphy As Robert Michael Fischer
Fischer is the mark. He’s the guy whose dreams the team is planning to infiltrate. Cillian Murphy had to play Fischer as pretty clueless when he was encountering of Cobb’s crew in his dreams, and he did a fantastic job of conveying that cluelessness.
Murphy is one of Nolan’s most regular collaborators, and they always manage to cook up an interesting character together, from Fischer in Inception to the Scarecrow in The Dark Knight trilogy to the “Shivering Soldier” in Dunkirk.
Marion Cotillard As Mal Cobb
Mal is one of the most fascinating characters in Inception. We never see the real Mal; we only see projections of her that embody the guilt that Cobb feels about the true cause of her suicide.
In crafting a personified manifestation of guilt, Nolan wrote Mal as the ultimate femme fatale. Marion Cotillard took this groundwork and ran with it, resulting in Inception’s most captivating performance.
