Creating the Opening of INCEPTION: Our conversation with actor Tohoru Masamune

by Terry Keefe

Inception kicks off with Leonardo DiCaprio's Dom Cobb washed up on a desolate beach, and ultimately discovered by an acolyte of Ken Watanabe's Saito character, played by actor Tohoru Masamune, who brings him to Saito in one of the film's most memorable scenes. After deciding to become an actor after receiving a degree in chemical engineering from MIT, Masamune's career is currently on a roll, with his next appearance slated to be in director Charlie Matthau's Baby-O.

We spoke with Masamune recently about the creation of the opening of one of last year's biggest films, and working with director Christopher Nolan.

What was Nolan’s directing style like?

Tohoru Masamune: Definitely an intense guy, but he obviously did have a lot on his mind [laughs]. His style felt very organic. The story was so complicated, that I think it was important to keep everything organic. I think it hearkens back to what the character of Cobb said, which was along the lines of, “A dream isn’t strange until you’re out of it.” I think that he wanted everyone to believe that everything that was going on, no matter how strange, was really happening. And so a lot of his focus was on that.

In that opening shot, that was the first shot we did on the beach. It was a complicated shot, there were all sorts of elements, like the surf coming in. And tight marks to hit. After [a take], he [Nolan] came up to me and said, “That was great. We hit the marks, but my sense was that it felt a little mechanical, but I think we need to just loosen it up a little.” I realized the attention to detail that he had, but also the importance of keeping everything absolutely organic. It was fun and thrilling to realize that he was just on top of every little detail.

For me, it was the first time I had been shooting on 65 mm, on the IMAX. In the beginning, it was interesting, someone who was working on the cameras whispered in my ear, “Just make sure that whatever you do, whatever struggles you’re having with this particular element… just make sure it doesn’t show. [laughs] We’re shooting this on 65 and every thought that goes through your head is going to show.” I’m thinking, “Oh, thanks for telling me that!” [laughs] So, all these things were going on, but you just sort of have to "let it go."

(Tales from a Beach: Inception.)

How much direction does Nolan in terms of performance? And how specific is he in terms of the blocking?

Well, he’s certainly blocking-specific. The marks are very tight, because they’re obviously very complicated shots. Very tight marks. But whenever he’d check in, and he’d always check in with me, which was really very nice and I appreciated it… there was the constant reminder to just let things happen.

(Nolan, Leo, Ellen Page, and assorted crew on the set of Inception.)

How many takes did he typically do?

We obviously did a lot of shooting, but I’d say, on each take, he’d do 10-12.

Did he give much direction in-between takes?

He had a lot of things going on, and a lot of things he had to worry about. So, in his direction, he would often go and take care of a lot of those technical aspects, then he’d kind of come to me and say, “Well, this is what’s going on…” Wally Pfister, the DP, who he has worked with a long time, they had a very good relationship, and so he’d sometimes say in his direction, “Here’s something from Wally…” It was very much like teamwork in that sense.

Did the film look like you expected it to when you saw it cut together in the final version?

I did sort of know what to expect, in terms of things like the lighting. Those elements I was expecting. But in terms of the whole movie, I have to say I was pretty amazed in terms of this whole thing being drawn together, the way all the elements came together. I went into it saying, “I don’t know what to expect” and I came away as thrilled as everyone else. Almost because of who this was, I almost thought, “I don’t think I’m going to put an expectation on what this will be.”

You attended MIT but then segued into acting. How did that come about?

Here’s the deal with that [laughs]. I guess you don’t realize how weird your background is until you get out there into the world. My dad became kind of a rock star in the synthetic-organic chemistry world. This was the kind of world I was raised in, this very sort of world-class, Nobel Prize-winning type world in terms of science. So, it was a natural progression for me to go to MIT. That being said, within that context, I was kind of the artist in the group. And I did well. To this day, I still absolutely love types of math. So, I just went there, because that’s what you do, right? And it was actually a big revelation to me to realize, “Oh, you mean not everybody goes on to get their doctorate?” [laughs] And while I was at MIT - which is a surprisingly creative place, or certainly a place of imagination, it’s all about imagination – and it made me to start thinking that it was more important to follow one’s natural path. I was always very much the artist, and we shot films in college, and all throughout high school, I was involved in productions and things like that. However, as far as a career, it didn’t really strike me until college. Oddly enough, even when we were in science class, and we spoke about things like Schroeder’s Equation, and uncertainties, those were actually the subjects that interested me the most. I always had this fascination with the unknown. So, it seemed to be a natural progression to really go into the unknown of Hollywood [laughs].