Christopher Nolan's 'Inception' was inspired by 'Star Wars'.

The filmmaker - who worked alongside Leonardo Dicaprio and Ellen Page in the sci-fi mystery movie - admits he was so impressed when he saw the George Lucas-directed movie in 1977 that it changed how he saw films.

He told MTV News: "That completely changed movies for me. It changed everything really."

"I think, for me, my whole career in making films, really every time I set out to make a film, I want to try and give somebody in the audience the experience I had watching that film, where it really felt like anything was possible in that world."

"That's a really extraordinary experience to have as a moviegoer."

The director recently revealed his belief the movie "challenged" him to build on his previous work including 'Batman Begins' and 'Memento'.

He said: "I've been very fortunate in my career in many ways, but very much in the way in which I've been able to build one film to the next.

"I started with the smallest-possible-scale film, 'Following,' which I made with friends on weekends - just us doing to it. To 'Memento,' which had a real budget and a real cast. I gradually built on that.

"What I've tried to do with every new film is to challenge myself. I don't want to do the same thing again. I don't want to do something I already know I can do. I want to try and do something that builds on what I've learned, that takes it someplace new."