Inception stunt work

Derek Ence
Comm. 2660
Paper #2
Stunt
Coordination
These days it’s hard to find a film
that does not contain some type of stunt work in some degree. Many times
audiences and critics are quick to overlook the amount of skill and talent
involved in making these stunts run smoothly for the finished product, since
the stunt performers are generally not in the spotlight. The films of
Christopher Nolan have become known not only for featuring mind-bending
storylines, but also for displaying mind-bending special effects and stunt work.
The film Inception is a prime example
of what Christopher Nolan can do with a film crew when given the right budget.
With an original script that called for some extensive action sequences, it was
necessary to hire a top of the line stunt team to pull off the dangerous feats.
To give you an idea of the amount of
work that went in to this film to pull off the incredible death defying acts,
the stunt crew was headed by two stunt coordinators. According to imdb.com, the
movie required around 90 stuntmen on the crew to make the film. Though many
actors now try to perform at least a portion of their own stunts, in order to
make them look as authentic as possible, the more dangerous and physically
taxing jobs are more often handled by trained professionals. The stunt coordinators
are the men or women who take responsibility for the safety of the stunt crew
and at times the actors. They have the most experience in the stunt field and
are specially licensed to be able to coordinate the stunts effectively. If not
for these brave men and women, great directors such as Nolan would probably
have heart attacks at an early age for fear of physically damaging the acting
talent.
The scene from Inception which stood out to me was in my opinion one of the most
incredible fight scenes from any movie ever produced. I’m talking of course
about the hallway fight scene that takes place between Arthur, played excellently
by Joseph Gordon-Levitt, and one of the subconscious “projections” Hell bent on
stopping him while in the second dream layer. While sleeping, Arthur gets in a
car accident and the vehicle roles, altering his dream state. In his dream, he
is about to face off with an enemy when suddenly the hotel hallway begins to
turn over and appears to roll just as his body is doing inside the van. Arthur
and his enemy slide and roll from wall to ceiling and from ceiling to wall
while carrying out their struggle. Eventually they crash through a door into a
hotel room and continue rolling throughout the spinning room. Arthur winds up
gaining the upper hand, gets his hands on a gun, and kills his opponent just as
the rolling van comes to a stop.
Obviously pulling off such a scene
was going to require a tremendous amount of work. The fight scene was all shot
in camera with no added CGI effects. To create the scene, effects coordinators
and set designers built a vertical shaft and built the inside to look identical
to the fancy hotel hallway from the film. The camera was placed facing up to
give the shaft the appearance of being horizontal and level. Stunt coordinators
rigged up the actors on the inside of the hallway to give them the appearance of
being able to stand or slide on the floor, walls, and ceiling of the artificial
hallway and hotel room. The hallway and room were rigged to be able to spin in
place, while the actors and stunt performers were dragged by their cables
across the surfaces during the intense scuffle. Gordon-Levitt actually
performed a great deal of his own stunts for the scene for more authenticity,
but his stunt double, Andy Bradshaw, took over for the more painful shots, such
as breaking through the hotel room door and crashing into the opposite wall.
The scene turned out fantastic. Nolan, his stunt crew, the special effects
artists, and the set designers managed to take a fight scene and turn it into a
truly stunning piece of modern filmmaking.
As mentioned previously, stunt
coordinators and performers are not always given their due credit, but it seems
the industry is beginning to take more notice in their work. I’ve read rumors
from various online sources, such as rottentomatoes.com, that the Academy of
Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has actually been considering the creation of
a best stunt category at their annual awards show. The addition of such a
category would certainly be welcome, and it would definitely be a step in the
right direction at giving stunt performers their due recognition.