The ‘confession’ Christopher Nolan had to make to Leonardo DiCaprio on Inception set

Christopher Nolan has shared a confession he made to Leonardo DiCaprio on the set of Inception.

Nolan directed DiCaprio in the 2010 thriller alongside a cast including Elliot Page, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Tom Hardy and Marion Cotillard.

It marked the first and only time Nolan has worked with DiCaprio – and the filmmaker had to broach an awkward subject with the Oscar-winning actor during their time on set.

In a recent interview, Nolan reflected on a script he once wrote about the life of Howard Hughes, but had to discard due to Martin Scorsese’s rival project, The Aviator.

Released in 2004, The Aviator starred DiCaprio as the reclusive philanthropist, earning him his third of five Oscar nominations. It was because of this film that Nolan was unable to make the film he’d invested so much time into and, due to this, he has never seen The Aviator.

The interview with Variety notes that Nolan “had to confess” this to DiCaprio “when they made Inception”, with Nolan stating: “It was very emotional to not get to make something I’d poured all that into.”

Nolan’s Hughes film would have starred Jim Carrey in the lead role.

Elsewhere in the interview, Nolan addressed a common complaint about his blockbuster Oppenheimer, which was released earlier this year.

The film won huge acclaim from critics, as well as audiences, who showed up to see the film in their droves: at the time of writing, Oppenheimer has grossed $948.6m (£771.6m) at the global box office – from a budget of $100m (£81.3m) – and is the third highest-grossing film of the year, behind Barbie and The Super Mario Bros Movie.

Cillian Murphy in ‘Oppenheimer’

(Universal Pictures)

Its takings also position it as the most successful biopic of all time, overtaking Freddie Mercury film Bohemian Rhapsody.