Christopher Nolan Tells the ‘Correct Answer’ to ‘Inception’ Ending, Recalls Sneaking Into Theaters and Hearing ‘Gasps, Groans, Frustrations’
variety.comZack Sharf Digital News Director Thirteen years later and Christopher Nolan is still being hounded with questions about the ending of “Inception,” his acclaimed 2010 action thriller about a group of criminals who pull off a dream heist.
The ending is notorious. Leonardo DiCaprio’s Cobb has completed his task and returns home to his children, but the film lingers on his spinning totem top as it begins to wobble.
Cut to black. If the top spins indefinitely, Cobb is still dreaming. If it falls, Cobb is awake in the real world. Moviegoers have spent over a decade debating whether or not Cobb is awake or dreaming at the end of “Inception,” but Nolan recently said on the “Happy Sad Confused” podcast that such debates are missing the ending’s real takeaway: Cobb doesn’t care. “I went through a phase where I was asked that a lot,” Nolan said when the topic of the “Inception” ending came up. “I think it was [producer] Emma Thomas who pointed out the correct answer, which is Leo’s character…the point of the shot is the character doesn’t care at that point.
It’s not a question I comfortably answer.” “There is a nihilistic view of that ending, right? But also, he’s moved on and is with his kids,” Nolan added to Wired earlier this month. “The ambiguity is not an emotional ambiguity.
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