Ext. Airfield - moments later

 

The helicopter sets down next to a PRIVATE JET.

 

INT. HELICOPTER - CONTINUOUS

 

Saito indicates the plane.

 

SAITO

Tell the crew where you want to go,

they'll file the plan en route.

 

Cobb and Arthur look at each other. Then move for the door.

23.

 

SAITO

Mr. Cobb...? There is one other

thing I could offer you.

(Cobb stops)

How would you like to go home? To

America. To your children.

 

Cobb turns back to Saito.

 

COBB

You can't fix that. Nobody could.

 

SAITO

Just like inception.

 

Cobb considers this. Arthur touches his arm.

 

ARTHUR

Cobb, come on-

 

COBB

How complex is the idea?

 

SAITO

Simple enough.

 

COBB

No idea's simple when you have to

plant it in someone else's mind.

 

SAITO

My main competitor is an old man in

poor health. His son will soon

inherit control of the corporation.

I need him to decide to break up

his father's empire. Against his

own self-interest.

 

ARTHUR

Cobb, we should walk away from

this.

 

COBB

If I were to do it. If I could do

it... how do I know you can

deliver?

 

SAITO

You don't. But I can. So do you

want to take a leap of faith, or

become an old man, filled with

regret, waiting to die alone?

 

Cobb looks at Saito. Barely nods.

24.

 

SAITO

Assemble your team, Mr. Cobb. And

choose your people more wisely.

 

INT. PRIVATE JET - LATER

 

Cobb reclines his seat. Arthur picks at a salad, angry.

 

ARTHUR

I know how much you want to go home-

 

COBB

(sharp)

No, you don't.

 

ARTHUR

But this can't be done.

 

COBB

It can. You just have to go deep

enough.

 

ARTHUR

You don't know that!-

 

COBB

I've done it before.

 

Arthur is taken aback. Cobb turns to the window.

 

ARTHUR

Did it work?

 

COBB

(quiet)

Yes.

 

ARTHUR

Who did you do it to?

 

Cobb looks at Arthur. Closed. Arthur shrugs.

 

ARTHUR

So why are we headed to Paris?

 

COBB

We're going to need a new

architect.

 

INT. GREAT HALL, ÉCOLE D'ARCHITECTURE - MORNING

 

Cobb, carrying a shopping bag, looks into a lecture hall: no

students, just a RUMPLED PROFESSOR hunched over paperwork.

25.

 

INT. LECTURE HALL - CONTINUOUS

 

COBB (O.S.)

You never did like your office.

 

PROFESSOR MILES looks up, squinting. Recognizes Cobb.

 

MILES

No space to think in that broom

cupboard.

 

Cobb steps down past the empty wooden rows.

 

MILES

Is it safe for you to be here?

 

COBB

Extradition between France and the

U.S. is a bureaucratic nightmare.

 

MILES

I think they'd find a way to make

it work in your case.

 

Cobb hand Miles the shopping bag.

 

COBB

Can you take these back for the

kids?

 

MILES

It'll take more than the occasional

stuffed animal to convince those

children they still have a father.

 

COBB

I know. I thought you could talk to

Marie about bringing them on

vacation. Somewhere I could meet-

 

MILES

Why would she listen to me?

 

COBB

You were married for twenty years.

 

MILES

She blames me as much as you.

 

COBB

Doesn't she understand that my kids

need me?

26.

 

MILES

Yes, she does. We all do. Go back

and face the music, Dom. Explain

what Mal did.

 

COBB

Be realistic, Stephen. They'd never

understand- they'd lock me up and

throwaway the key. Or worse.

 

MILES

You think what you're doing now is

helping your case?

 

COBB

Lawyers don't pay for themselves.

This is what I have. This is what

you taught me.

 

MILES

I never taught you to be a thief.

 

COBB

No, you taught me to navigate other

people's minds. But after what

happened with Mal there weren't a

whole lot of legitimate ways for me

to use that skill.

 

Miles looks at Cobb.

 

MILES

Why did you come here, Dom?

 

Cobb shifts slightly.

 

COBB

I found a way home. A job. For

powerful people. If I pull it off,

I can get back to my family. But I

need help.

 

Miles realizes something.

 

MILES

My God. You're here to corrupt one

of my brightest and best.

 

COBB

If you have someone good enough,

you have to let them decide for

themselves. You know what I'm

offering-

 

MILES

Money?

27.

 

COBB

No, not just money: the chance to

build cathedrals, entire cities-

things that have never existed,

things that couldn't exist in the

real world...

 

MILES

Everybody dreams, Cobb. Architects

are supposed to make those dreams

real.

 

COBB

That's not what you used to say.

You told me that in the real world

I'd be building attic conversions

and gas stations. You said that if

I mastered the dream-share I'd have

a whole new way of creating and

showing people my creations. You

told me it would free me.

 

Miles looks at Cobb, sad.

 

MILES

And I'm sorry. I was wrong.

 

COBB

No, you weren't. Your vision was a

vision of pure creativity. It's

where we took it that was wrong.

 

MILES

And now you want me to let someone

else follow you into fantasy.

 

COBB

They won't actually come on the

job, they'll just design the levels

and teach them to the dreamers.

 

MILES

Design them yourself.

 

COBB

Mal won't let me.

 

Miles looks at Cobb. Appalled.

 

MILES

Come back to reality, Dom. Please.

 

COBB

You want to know what's real,

Stephen? Your grandchildren waiting

for their dad to come back.

(MORE)

28.

COBB (CONT'D)

This job-this last job-is how I get

there.

 

Miles looks down, fiddles with his papers.

 

COBB

I wouldn't be standing here if

there were any other way. I can get

home. But I need an architect who's

as good as I was.

 

Miles looks Cobb in the eye. Decides.

 

MILES

I've got someone better.

 

INT. CORRIDOR - LATER

 

Miles and Cobb stand by as STUDENTS file out of a lecture.

 

MILES

Ariadne...

 

A young woman carrying books turns. This is ARIADNE.

 

MILES

I'd like you to meet Mr. Cobb.

 

She sizes him up with quick eyes. Offers her hand.

 

ARIADNE

Pleased to meet you.

 

MILES

If you have a few moments, Mr. Cobb

has a job offer to discuss with

you.

 

ARIADNE

A work placement?

 

COBB

(smiles

Not exactly.

 

EXT. ROOFTOP, ÉCOLE D'ARCHITECTURE - MOMENTS LATER

 

Ariadne leans against the parapet, overlooking Paris. She

unwraps a sandwich, watching Cobb pull out a pad of GRAPH

PAPER and a PEN. He offers them. She bites her sandwich.

 

COBB

A test.

29.

 

ARIADNE

(mouth full)

Aren't you going to tell me

anything?

 

COBB

Before I describe the job, I have

to know you could do it.

 

ARIADNE

Why?

 

COBB

It's not, strictly speaking, legal.

 

Ariadne raises her eyebrows.

 

COBB

You have two minutes to draw a maze

that takes me one minute to solve.

 

Ariadne takes the pad and pen. Cobb looks at his watch.

 

COBB

Go.

 

She starts DRAWING LINES on the grid, constructing a maze.

 

COBB

Stop.

 

Ariadne hands the pad and pen to Cobb. He glances at the pad,

then, looking her in the eye, TRACES the solution. She is

taken aback. Cobb RIPS off the sheet, hands the pad back.

 

COBB

Again.

 

She traces straight lines, CONCENTRATING...

 

COBB

Stop.

 

She hands Cobb the pad, a touch pleased. Cobb solves the

puzzle instantly, as before. Her smile falls.

 

COBB

You'll have to-

 

She GRABS the pad, frustrated... but this time she FLIPS it

over and starts drawing on the BLANK CARDBOARD of the back.

Cobb watches, surprised. He smiles as he sees that she's

drawing CIRCLES, creating a maze based on concentric rings.

 

Ariadne hands back the pad, defiant. Cobb takes the pen,

starts the maze. This time he gets stuck. Nods.

30.

 

COBB

(working the maze)

More like it.