Three, four hours. Every day.
COBB
How long in dream time?
YUSUF
With this compound… about forty hours. Each and every day.
Saito surveys the room, appalled.
SAITO
Why do they do it?
YUSUF
Tell him, Mr. Cobb.
COBB
After a while…
(looks at Saito)
It becomes the only way you can dream.
YUSUF
Do you still dream, Mr. Cobb?
Cobb STARES at the sleepers. Uneasy.
EAMES
They come here every day to sleep?
ELDERLY BALD MAN (O.S.)
No.
Cobb turns to the Elderly Bald Man, who looks fondly at his dreamers.
ELDERLY BALD MAN
They come to be woken up… the dream has become their reality…
The Elderly Bald Man pokes a crooked finger at Cobb’s chest.
ELDERLY BALD MAN
And who are you to say otherwise?
Cobb STARES at the Elderly Bald Man. DISTURBED. Cobb turns to Yusuf. TOSSES him the bottle.
COBB
Let’s see what you can do.
INT. SAME — MOMENTS LATER
Cobb is lying on an empty cot, asleep. Yusuf stands over him.
As we move in on Cobb’s SLEEPING FACE we hear the sound of a FREIGHT TRAIN, BUILDING, and we—
CUT TO:
EXT. WASTELAND — DAY
CLOSE ON Cobb’s face as he lies, EYES CLOSED, cheek pressed to a METAL RAIL — THE SOUND OF THE TRAIN IS DEAFENING — Cobb is BREATHING, BREATHING, BREATHING, and we—
CUT TO:
INT. BACK ROOM, PHARMACY — DAY
Cobb’s eyes open. Yusuf is watching him.
YUSUF
Sharp, no?
Cobb nods. Gets to his feet, looking around—
INT. BATHROOM, PHARMACY — CONTINUOUS
Cobb SPLASHES water on his face, breathing hard—
INSERT CUT: A CURTAIN BILLOWS. MAL TURNS TO US, HAIR BLOWING, SMILING.
Cobb fumbles in his pockets, pulls out his spinning top. He tries to set it spinning on the back edge of the sink, but it FALLS to the floor and rolls towards the door — Saito is there. WATCHING Cobb. He looks down at the spinning top.
SAITO
Everything alright, Mr. Cobb?
Cobb dries his face with a paper towel. Picks up his top.
COBB
Everything’s fine.
INT. BACK ROOM, WORKSHOP — NIGHT
Close on a small BRASS CHESS PIECE. Ariadne tips it over.
Frowning, she picks up a micro drill, peels back the felt on the bottom and widens a hole in one side of its base. Tests the TIPPING POINT again. A NOISE makes her look up.
INT. WORKSHOP — CONTINUOUS
Ariadne comes into the main space. Someone is there, unpacking one of the MECHANISMS. Cobb.
ARIADNE
You’re back.
Cobb looks up with a start. Caught out.
ARIADNE
Are you going under on your own?
COBB
I just— I need to test some things. I didn’t realize anyone was here.
ARIADNE
Just working on my totem.
Ariadne holds up the chess piece. Cobb reaches for it.
COBB
Let me see—
Ariadne SNAPS it out of his reach. Smiles. Cobb nods.
COBB
You’re learning.
ARIADNE
It’s an elegant solution to keeping track of reality. Your invention?
COBB
No. Mal’s.
Cobb pulls out his spinning top. Looks at it.
COBB
This one was hers. She’d spin it in a dream and it would never topple. Just spin and spin…
ARIADNE
Arthur told me she died.
COBB
She did. How are the mazes coming?
Ariadne indicates three large ARCHITECTURAL MODELS.
ARIADNE
Good. Each level relates to the part of the subject’s subconscious we’re trying to access. I’m making the bottom level a hospital, so that Fischer will bring his father there—
COBB
Don’t tell me. Remember, you only want the dreamer to know the layout.
ARIADNE
Why’s that so important?
COBB
In case one of us brings in part of our subconscious. You wouldn’t want any projections knowing the layout.
ARIADNE
In case you bring Mal in.
Cobb says nothing.
ARIADNE
You won’t build yourself because if you know the maze, then she knows it. And she’d sabotage the operation. You can’t keep her out, can you?
Cobb says nothing.
ARIADNE
Do the others know?
COBB
No.
ARIADNE
You have to warn them if it’s getting worse—
COBB
(gentle)
I didn’t say it’s getting worse. Look, Ariadne, I need them for this job. I need you for this job. Without your help, I’ll never get back to my children. And that’s all I can care about right now.
ARIADNE
Why can’t you go home, Cobb?
Cobb looks at her, deciding what to say.
COBB
They think I killed her.
ARIADNE
How did she die?
Cobb thinks.
INSERT CUT: Mal, wind BLOWING her hair, smiles at Cobb. Now we see Cobb — SHAKING HIS HEAD, TEARS STREAMING, BEGGING-
COBB
Thank you.
ARIADNE
For what?
COBB
Not asking whether I did.
INT. WORKSHOP — DAY
Ariadne, Arthur, Yusuf, Eames and Saito sit around the room, looking at FILES. Cobb presides.
COBB
The mark is Robert Fischer, heir to the Australian energy conglomerate, Fischer Morrow.
Cobb opens a large presentation pad.
COBB (reads aloud)
“I WILL SPLIT UP MY FATHER’S EMPIRE.”
Cobb turns to the team.
COBB
An idea Robert Fischer’s conscious mind would never accept. We have to plant it deep in his subconscious.
ARTHUR
How deep?
COBB
Three levels down.
ARTHUR
A dream within a dream within a dream? Is that even possible?
COBB
Yes. It is.
COBB
Now, the subconscious motivates through emotion, not reason, so we have to translate the idea into an emotional concept.
ARTHUR
How do you translate a business strategy into an emotion?
COBB
That’s what we have to figure out. Robert and his father have a tense relationship. Worse, even, than the gossip columns have suggested…
EAMES
Do you play on that? Suggest breaking up his father’s company as a ‘screw you’ to the old man?