Awakenings
Short description
Awakenings is a drama set in a New York psychiatric hospital in the late 1960s. Malcolm Sayer, a neurologist with a research background but little practical experience, takes a post at the hospital and becomes interested in a group of patients who have survived an epidemic of encephalitis lethargica. Reduced to a near-catatonic state, they have been written off and left largely unattended. Sayer decides to try an experimental drug on one of them, Leonard Lowe, and the treatment brings Leonard back to speech and movement after decades of stillness. The film follows the relationship that develops between the reserved doctor and the exuberant patient, and the wider question of what the drug can do for the other patients.
The film is directed by Penny Marshall, its third feature after Big, from a screenplay by Steven Zaillian. Robert De Niro plays Leonard Lowe, with Robin Williams as Malcolm Sayer; the cast also includes John Heard, Julie Kavner, Penelope Ann Miller and Ruth Nelson, among 63 credited performers. It was produced by Walter F. Parkes and Lawrence Lasker on a budget of 31 million dollars, and returned 52 million dollars worldwide. On TMDB it holds 7.8 out of 10 from 2,962 votes, while critics' reviews give it 6.6 out of 10, so audiences responded more warmly than reviewers.
What's left behind the scenes
- Director Penny Marshall considered Bill Murray for the role of Leonard Lowe, but ultimately abandoned the idea, believing that audiences would expect a comedy with Murray, not a drama.
- When Lucy stops walking towards the fountain, it's visible that she's standing on a green square and stripe on the floor. When Malcolm calls out to her, "Lucy, come on" – Lucy is standing in front of the green stripe on the floor, on the green and light square. Afterwards, the doctor calls to the old woman again, and she is standing on the green square and stripe, as before.
- Oliver Sacks served as a consultant during the making of the film.
- The film is based on Oliver Sacks' memoir, "Awakenings" (1973).
- De Niro and Williams observed Dr. Sacks and real patients in the hospital for a long time before beginning to create their characters.
- Dr. Malcolm Sayer (Robin Williams) prescribes the drug levodopa (L-DOPA) to patients. Robin Williams himself used the same medication to treat the symptoms of Parkinson's disease shortly before his death in August 2014.
- In one of the film's scenes, Lillian T., a truly sick patient with lethargic encephalitis and the only one of Dr. Sacks' patients still alive at the time, appears.
- Vin Diesel can be seen among the hospital staff; the film was his first appearance on the big screen, but he is not credited in the film.
- The film is based on real events that occurred in 1969–1970 with the neurologist Oliver Sacks, who later wrote a memoir about them. Harold Pinter also wrote a play, “A Kind of Alaska,” based on this book. The epidemic of Economo's lethargic encephalitis, causing catatonia, did indeed occur in 1917–1928; the drug “L-Dopa” is also real.
- At the beginning of the film, when the nurse states her willingness to help, Malcolm (the doctor) lowers the window of his car to about shoulder height. With changes in shots, it is noticeable that the window position changes – when filmed from inside the car, the window is rolled down completely, and when filmed from the nurse's side – it is lower than it initially was.
- During the filming of a scene where security guards try to prevent De Niro's character from leaving the hospital, Robin Williams, awkwardly swinging his elbow, broke Robert De Niro's nose. According to De Niro, his nose was already broken, and the blow, strangely enough, straightened it.
- Filming took place from October 16, 1989, to February 16, 1990.
Auditions in India
Casting calls in USA
Castingi w Polsce
Кастинги в Україні
