Maps of Movies

Inception (2010)

Where Inception says it takes place, and where it was really shot.

A film built on dreams, filmed in Paris, Tangier, an airship hangar and a closed ski resort

Scenes and places

The Paris café where the world starts to bend (2010)

Cobb walks Ariadne through her first shared dream on a Paris café street and shows her the world around them is a dream.

Set in Paris café street — A Paris café street where Cobb shows Ariadne a shared dream.

Filmed at Corner of Rue César-Franck and Rue Bouchut, Paris — A fake bistro was built on this corner for the scene; real nitrogen blasts and six high-speed cameras were used for the explosion.

How to get there:

The Paris bridge that folds (2010)

Ariadne bends the dream city around the bridge while Cobb warns her never to rebuild places from memory.

Set in Pont de Bir-Hakeim — A Paris bridge in the dream where Ariadne bends the city.

Filmed at Pont de Bir-Hakeim, Paris — Filmed on the bridge itself; the folding effect was added with green screen and CGI.

How to get there:

The Mombasa chase through narrow streets (2010)

Cobb tracks down Eames in Mombasa, is chased through the streets, and gets Eames to join the job.

Set in Mombasa — The Kenyan port city where Cobb finds Eames.

Filmed at Tangier medina, Morocco — Tangier stood in for Mombasa; the foot chase was shot in the medina quarter.

How to get there:

The van that falls off the bridge (2010)

In the first dream level a van speeds through a rainy city while the team works inside it; its fall from a bridge sets the clock for the job.

Set in Rainy dream city (first level) — A dream city in the rain; no real place is named in the film.

Filmed at Commodore Schuyler F. Heim Bridge, Long Beach / Los Angeles — The van drop was shot here in slow motion.

How to get there:

Filmed at Downtown Los Angeles — A multi-vehicle chase was staged on downtown streets; a local report places the second-weekend shoot on Spring Street at 7th Street, with a rubber-wheeled locomotive mounted on a truck body and rain made by sprinklers on the buildings.

How to get there:

Filmed at Spring Street at 7th Street, Downtown Los Angeles — Second-weekend downtown shoot (Sept 19-20, 2009): blocks on both sides of 7th and Spring closed, a rubber-wheeled locomotive parked south of 7th, sprinklers mounted high on buildings for rain. Coordinates are the Spring Street financial district center, not the intersection.

How to get there:

The hotel where gravity gives way (2010)

In the second dream level, Arthur keeps the team asleep in a hotel while gravity shifts around them.

Set in Hotel (second dream level) — A dream hotel; it exists only as a set.

Filmed at Cardington airship hangar, Bedfordshire — The hotel bar was built tilted 30 degrees and the corridor rotated a full 360 degrees inside a converted airship hangar.

How to get there:

The snow fortress at the top of the mountain (2010)

At the top of a snowy mountain, a fortress guarded by projections, the team races a shrinking clock.

Set in Snow fortress (third level) — A dream fortress on a snowy mountain; it exists only as a set.

Filmed at Fortress Mountain Resort, Alberta, Canada — The set was built near the top station of a temporarily closed ski resort in late November 2009; local reports describe a large set, many extras and on-snow scenes shot with snowmobiles.

How to get there:

Filmed at Tokyo — Saito hires Cobb during a helicopter flight

Filmed at University College London — Cobb's architecture school interior

Filmed at Musée Galliera, Paris — Cobb's architecture school entrance

Filmed at Malibu Beach, California — Saito's Japanese castle

Filmed at CAA Building, Century City, Los Angeles — Hotel lobby

Filmed at Palos Verdes beach, California — Limbo shoreline

Filmed at Pasadena, California — Cobb's house

Filmed at Wilshire Boulevard and Grand Avenue, Downtown Los Angeles — Dream downtown street

Characters

• Cobb — A thief who searches people's minds for secrets.
• Ariadne — A gifted architecture student recruited to design dreams.
• Arthur — A member of Cobb's team who keeps the others asleep in a dream.
• Eames — A forger whom Cobb finds in Mombasa.

Questions answered on the map

• Where was Inception's folding Paris bridge filmed?
• Where was the rotating hotel hallway built?