Retro-Cast: Casting Inception In The 1980s

In the summer of 2010, the runaway success of Christopher Nolan’s Inception gave hope to legions of moviegoers who feared that franchises would consume multiplexes and that original stories could no longer break through the cinematic landscape. Nolan rounded out his cast with such 21st-century icons as Leonardo DiCaprio, Elliot Page, and Tom Hardy in the lead roles.

If he’d made the movie way back in the 1980s — when sci-fi was all the rage, thanks to E.T., and movies set in the dreamscape had become popular, thanks to A Nightmare on Elm Street — he might’ve cast these contemporary stars instead.

9 Sigourney Weaver As Ariadne

After Sigourney Weaver broke new ground for female action heroes in 1979’s Alien, she became a prominent movie star throughout the ‘80s with performances in such classics as Ghostbusters, Working Girl, and James Cameron’s acclaimed Alien sequel.

If Inception had been made in the 1980s, casting a sci-fi icon like Weaver in the fish-out-of-water audience surrogate role of Ariadne — originally played by Elliot Page — would be an easy decision.

8 Tom Cruise As Arthur

Joseph Gordon-Levitt played Arthur as a more youthful, optimistic version of his mentor Cobb. In the ‘80s, this budding apprentice role could’ve been filled by Tom Cruise, who previously played Paul Newman’s apprentice in The Color of Money.

Cruise was one of the world’s biggest emerging stars at the time. Movies like Risky Business and Top Gun had made him a bankable A-lister, while Rain Man and Born on the Fourth of July proved he had real depth.

7 George Takei As Mr. Saito

Initially portrayed by Ken Watanabe, Mr. Saito is the wealthy businessman who bankrolls Cobb and his team’s extractions. He’s crucial to the darker side of Inception’s worldbuilding because he ends up getting trapped in Limbo.

George Takei, best known as Enterprise helmsman Hikaru Sulu, enjoyed a renewed popularity in the ‘80s following the run of Star Trek II to IV, which were all critically acclaimed and embraced by audiences. If Inception was made three decades earlier, he could’ve played the role of Saito.

6 Rob Lowe As Robert Fischer

Robert Fischer is the business magnate whose dreams are infiltrated during the main plot of Inception. Played by Cillian Murphy in the original movie, he’s the only character who doesn’t realize he’s in a dream. Fischer is a young hotshot who recently inherited his father’s company.

If the movie had been made in the 1980s, then Cobb and his team could’ve targeted teen idol Rob Lowe instead. Being a member of the Brat Pack provided Lowe with lucrative stardom, thanks to movies like The Outsiders and St. Elmo’s Fire.

5 Eddie Murphy As Yusuf

Along with Tom Hardy, Dileep Rao brought some comic relief to Inception in the role of Yusuf, a chemist who provides Cobb and his team with powerful sedatives that allow them to spend extended periods of time in the dream world.

The go-to actor for comic relief in the 1980s was Eddie Murphy, the breakout star of Saturday Night Live who became a world-renowned leading man on the big screen with acclaimed comedies like Beverly Hills Cop and Coming to America.

4 Michelle Pfeiffer As Mal Cobb

After unwittingly taking her own life while trying to prove she was in the dream world, Mal Cobb exists only as a projection in her widowed husband’s dreams. Since Mal only ever appears as a projection in the dreamscape, Marion Cotillard was able to play up the “femme fatale” aspects of her characterization.

Michelle Pfeiffer rose to prominence in the 1980s with roles in such hits as Scarface, Dangerous Liaisons, and Married to the Mob. With her critically lauded turn as Catwoman in Tim Burton’s Batman Returns, Pfeiffer more than proved her ability to play a captivating femme fatale. She would’ve made a great Mal in an ‘80s-era Inception.

3 Richard E. Grant As Eames

Eames is the team’s “forger” who’s able to project any image he wants in order to distract a target. In the original movie, he was played by Tom Hardy as an acid-tongued charmer. A cross between a Special Forces operative and a smooth-talking gentleman, the role of Eames requires an eccentric British character actor.

With his 1987 screen debut playing the title role in Withnail and I (Withnail, not “I”), Richard E. Grant became a widely recognizable star. Grant’s uniquely peculiar acting style would’ve paired perfectly with the flamboyant personality of Eames.

2 Morgan Freeman As Peter Browning

Tom Berenger’s Peter Browning is only a minor role in Inception. He’s Robert Fischer’s godfather and one of the executives on the board at his company. He’s sort of a surrogate father to Robert and acts as more of a paternal figure than his actual biological father ever was.

This role needs a wise, warm, seasoned actor, like Morgan Freeman. Freeman became a huge star in 1989 with the double whammy of Glory and Driving Miss Daisy. The role of close confidant, Browning is a lot like the veteran inmate Freeman would later play opposite Tim Robbins in The Shawshank Redemption.

1 Harrison Ford As Dom Cobb

Aside from Christopher Nolan’s trippy premise, a huge part of Inception’s blockbuster appeal was the presence of Leonardo DiCaprio in the lead role as dream extractor Dom Cobb. Back in the 1980s, the roles of Han Solo and Indiana Jones made Harrison Ford a renowned movie star and a highly sought-after leading man on the same level as DiCaprio today.

Around the time he played hard-boiled futuristic detective Rick Deckard in Ridley Scott’s Blade Runner, Ford could’ve portrayed the central antihero in a different mind-bending sci-fi opus.

About The Author

Ben Sherlock
(3458 Articles Published)

Ben Sherlock is a writer, comedian, independent filmmaker, and Burt Reynolds enthusiast. He writes lists for Screen Rant and features and reviews for Game Rant. He’s currently in pre-production on his first feature (and has been for a while, because filmmaking is expensive). You can catch him performing standup at odd pubs around the UK that will give him stage time. Previously, he wrote for Taste of Cinema, Comic Book Resources, and BabbleTop.

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