LIVE BLOG: 'Inception' premiere in L.A.

(above: Ellen Page, Leonardo DiCaprio and Marion Cotillard at Tuesday's preem)

LIVE BLOG: Inception Premiere: Tuesday, July 13

Variety's Dave McNary reports from the Hollywood premiere of "Inception" at Grauman's Chinese Theatre. 

6:41 p.m. Leonardo DiCaprio's provoking some screaming by fans out front of the Chinese but the scene is on on bit more subdued than many other premieres.

6:43 p.m.  Perhaps its the black carpet rather than the usual red as Warners tries to underscore the serious tone of Inception.

6:50 p.m. Studio chief Allen Horn looks about as relaxed as any executive can before a tentpole opens.

6:55 p.m. Early reviews have been so good that the tickets for the event were among the hottest items within the show business world for the past several weeks.

6:57 p.m. I passed up a late invite to the MLB All-Star game in Anaheim tonight

7:08 p.m. Free popcorn and Coke is my favorite meal or as I call it the dinner of champions.

7:17 p.m. Director Michael Mann is the most notable player who's in attendance and not affiliated with the film.

7:22 p.m. Hard to believe how tiny Ellen Page is.

7:26 p.m. And I haven't spotted Michael Caine, who was at the London premiere last week premiere and spilled the beans about the next Batman shooting in April.

(above: Warner Bros.' Jeff Robinov, Leonardo DiCaprio, Christopher Nolan and WB's Alan Horn) 

7:30 p.m. We are probably starting in about two mInutes once Horn is done talking.

7:34 p.m. He introduces Al Gore on behalf of the Alliance for Climate Protection.

7:35 p.m. Gore gets a very warm welcome and says "The climate crisis needs everything that we can do." Gore says the first six months of this year were the hottest on record and adds that arctic sea ice is disappearing at a record rate. He receives another nice round of applause and thanks the crowd again.

7:42 p.m. Credits roll

10:28 p.m. About half a minute of applause came from the crowd at the Chinese tonight. Reactions so far - "very dense," "visually stunning" and "maybe a little remote."

10:41 p.m. The after party across the street in a white tent features the dream city from the film projected onto the top and sides. Very trippy as we children of the 60s say.

10:50 p.m. The entrance requires passing through dozens of mirrors, which are a key part of this very intense film. 

10:57 p.m. The entire cast except Michael Caine showed up to the premiere, which was the third after events in London and Paris.

11:01 p.m. Chris Nolan and Emma Thomas both say that their favorite moment during the screening was the audience getting wowed by Joseph Gordon-Levitt negotiating the walls and ceiling of a rotating hotel interior. 

 "He did a great job, making it look like Fred Astaire," Nolan said. "That part of the shoot took several weeks."

"It looks very simple but was very complex," said Thomas, Nolan's producing partner and spouse. "It's the first time I've seen it with a big crowd so it was very gratifying."

11:06 p.m. Nolan admits that "Inception" actually resembles the film he had in mind when he first conceived the idea ten years ago. 

"Visually, it's what I had in mind but what's changed since is the emotional part of the story," he added.

11:08 p.m. Thomas recalls that she liked the idea when she heard about it 10 years ago. "I thought it sounded interesting but I remember thinking that I had no idea how you could possibly make it," she added.

Nolan and Thomas will fly to Tokyo this weekend for the fourth premiere. "I'm looking forward to it," Nolan said. "It's only an 11-hour flight."

11:34 p.m. John Marr and Hans Zimmer performed about 10 minutes of music from the film, very spacey when heard without the movie going on.

11:45 p.m. Party's still going strong at midnight but I'm fading fast, even with the DJ playing "Billie Jean."

11:50 p.m. "I'm still not sure what to think," one agent says of the film, walking away with blackberry in hand.