At ‘Inception’ premiere, the appeal is clear: Christopher Nolan

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The stars were out in full force in Hollywood on Tuesday evening, when the cast of ‘Inception’ -- Leonardo DiCaprio, Marion Cotillard and Ellen Page, among others -- hit the red carpet to promote the opening of their new film.

As they walked down a black carpet decorated with the film’s title in huge red letters, the actors made it clear what attracted them to the project: director Christopher Nolan.

Joseph Gordon-Levitt, who plays the DiCaprio character’s right-hand man, Arthur, in the film, said he’d long followed Nolan’s career and was so eager to impress his potential boss that he dressed in a suit and tie for their first meeting.

‘Well, the thing is, I didn’t know anything about the movie when I went to meet him for the first time,’ Gordon-Levitt said. ‘I knew there was a movie, and I knew that Leo was in it, and that’s all I knew about it. So normally when you go into a meeting, you dress appropriately; you get into the right mood for whatever character you’re gonna play. But I didn’t know anything about it, so I just figured I’d suit up, and I got lucky. Turns out that the character I play wears a lot of suits.’

Japanese costar Ken Watanabe was also familiar with Nolan, having worked with him on films including ‘Batman Begins.’ But he was less familiar with the script, which he said he had to read three times before he fully grasped it.

‘When I read the script, it’s so confusing ... I need[ed] to go back to read three times.’ But in the film, he said, it’s ‘very visualized, so it’s a really great human drama.’

Interviews with more of the film’s stars, including Cillian Murphy and Lukas Haas, are below. Click on the picture above or here for pictures from the red carpet.

--Amy Kaufman
Twitter.com/AmyKinLA

Upper photo: Christopher Nolan, left, director of ‘Inception,’ with cast members Ellen Page, Leonardo DiCaprio and Marion Cotillard at the premiere of the film in Los Angeles. Credit: Chris Pizzello / Associated Press

Lower photo: ‘Inception’ actor Ken Watanabe, right, with his wife, Ka, at the film’s L.A. premiere. Credit: Nina Prommer / EPA