‘INCEPTION’ Update: Ski Chases w/ Machine Guns and Avalanches in Canada

Inception has been chugging along steadily for just about six months now. Shooting for the Christopher Nolan Sci-Fi action thriller began back in June and has nearly circled the globe during production. The film is set to wrap any day now, but over the last couple weeks, Nolan, Leo & Co. have been filming in Canada and what they’ve reportedly been doing is extremely exciting, but as always, raises significant eye brows.

Crew members have been constructing an “enormous mountaintop building” for the film for the past several months. This top-secret set has been built in a remote location in the foothills west of Calgary, Canada. Check out a photo of the massive fortress THAT WAS BUILT specifically for this movie, courtesy of The Vancover Sun.

“WTF?” You’re probably saying. Exactly. And what’s even more interesting and exciting than this mysterious and enormous snow fortress movie set, is what the cast has been doing on or near it. According to The Calgary Herald, Nolan had the entire cast learn to ski for a chase scene  involving “machine guns and automatic weapons.”

“He wanted all of the actors that were involved here, (Nolan) wanted them to learn to ski,” says Matt Mosteller, a professional ski coach and vice-president of marketing and sales for Resorts of the Canadian Rockies, which owns Nakiska, as well as B.C. resorts Fernie and Kimberley.

“He’s super detail-oriented . . . (Nolan) wants everything right. If you’re portraying it, you’ve got to be able to do it.”

Lastly, according to The Free Press, this past week explosive teams on the ski slopes at Fernie Alpine Resort utilized avalanche bombs to set off, you guessed it, avalanches being filmed by Christopher Nolan’s crew.

“We have been working with the movie crew at Nakiska and heard they needed to film an avalanche and they were having a tough time finding a place with snow,” he said. “So when we mentioned that our Fernie Snow Safety team was doing our avy control work they asked if it would be OK to go along.

“We have had lots of snow – in fact the most snow in the five Alpine Bowls of Fernie Alpine Resort since 1984!

So lets re-cap: For nearly a month, Inception has been filming at a top-secret snow fortress mountain set in Canada. Christopher Nolan made all of his cast learn to ski for a chase scene involving “machine guns and automatic weapons,” as well as had his explosive/special effects team set up explosions to film an avalanche. I’ve been saying it for nearly a year, Inception will be the surprise everyone and be the biggest blockbuster of 2010, that’s right, even beating Iron Man 2. Warner Bros. is simply brilliant when it comes to marketing, and the fact that this film has Nolan, the incredible cast, a $200 million budget, an insane and original concept and release in IMAX theaters=MUST-SEE/CAN’T MISS entertainment for movie-goers all over the world.

Production on Inception is supposedly wrapping up this week or next. It will then enter the all important post-production phase for several months before hitting theaters July 16, 2010.

Special thanks to NolanFans.com for their great and constant coverage of Inception’s production.

What Do You Think? Discuss.