Let Michael Caine Finally Explain the Ending of Inception Once and For All

ADD TIME ON GOOGLE

Megan McCluskey

by

Megan McCluskey

Open follow modal

Personalized Content

Megan McCluskey

Megan McCluskey

Follow this author to personalize your feed and get instant alerts.

FollowGo to your personalized feed

WHY FOLLOW?

Update your preferences in Account Settings

Close

Staff Writer

Aug 15, 2018 4:41 PM CUT

marion-cottilard-best-roles-inception

Warner Bros.

Megan McCluskey

by

Megan McCluskey

Open follow modal

Personalized Content

Megan McCluskey

Megan McCluskey

Follow this author to personalize your feed and get instant alerts.

FollowGo to your personalized feed

WHY FOLLOW?

Update your preferences in Account Settings

Close

Staff Writer

Aug 15, 2018 4:41 PM CUT

After more than eight years of debate over the ending of Inception, Michael Caine has offered some clarity on the movie’s mysterious final moments.

While speaking at a Film 4 Summer Screen showing of Christopher Nolan’s acclaimed thriller, Caine—who played the father of Leonardo DiCaprio’s Dom Cobb—shared some insider knowledge on whether Cobb was awake or dreaming in Inception‘s closing sequence.

“When I got the script of Inception, I was a bit puzzled by it,” Caine said. “And I said to [Nolan], ‘I don’t understand where the dream is.’ I said, ‘When is it the dream and when is it reality?’ He said, ‘Well, when you’re in the scene, it’s reality.’ So get that — if I’m in it, it’s reality. If I’m not in it, it’s a dream.”

There you have it, Inception fans. Since Caine is in the final scene, it’s reality. Case closed. The totem falls.

Revisit the iconic ending below.