Awakenings


2h 1m 1990

Brief Synopsis

A doctor's experiments bring a group of comatose patients back to consciousness.

Photos & Videos

Film Details

Also Known As
Despertares, Eveil, L' Eveil, Uppvaknanden, Zeit des Erwachens
MPAA Rating
Genre
Drama
Biography
Medical
Release Date
1990
Production Company
Michael Bedard
Distribution Company
Sony Pictures Releasing
Location
New York City, New York, USA; City Island, Bronx, New York, USA; New York Botanical Gardens, Brooklyn, New York, USA; Park Slope, Brooklyn, New York, USA; Kingsboro Psychiatric Center, Brooklyn, New York, USA

Technical Specs

Duration
2h 1m

Synopsis

Based on a true story, a passionate and somewhat unorthodox doctor struggles to cure patients of encephalitis, a sleeping disorder which struck many victims in the 1920s, rendering them motionless and seemingly thoughtless.

Crew

Elliot Abbott

Executive Producer

Richard Baratta

Location Manager

Donah Bassett

Negative Cutting

Michael Bedard

Cable Operator

Anna Behlmer

Sound

Kristine Belson

Assistant

Dennis Benatar

Location Assistant

Beth Bergeron

Adr Editor

Gary Bourgeois

Sound

Timothy M. Bourne

Production Manager

Tristan Bourne

Production Assistant

Kathryn Camp

Assistant Editor

Katie Cerio

Assistant

Robin Chambers

Assistant

Bobby Conners

Electrician

Battle Davis

Editor

Michael Decasper

Assistant Director

George Detitta Jr.

Set Decorator

Drew Dillard

Location Assistant

James P. Dolan

Rigging Gaffer

Joe Dorn

Adr Editor

William Drake

Scenic Artist

David Dumais

Wardrobe

Edwin A Effrein

Camera Assistant

Susan Fanara

Assistant

Scott Farley

Hair

William Farley

Hair

Irene Ferrari

Wardrobe

Judie Fixler

Casting Associate

Jim Flamberg

Music Editor

Cynthia Flynt

Costume Designer

John R Ford

Property Master Assistant

Ken Fundus

Dolly Grip

Anton Furst

Production Designer

Anthony Gittelson

Assistant Director

Louis Goldman

Photography

Debbie Goldsmith

Assistant Editor

Jerry Greenberg

Editor

Robert Griffon

Property Master

Bill Groom

Art Director

Ilona Herman

Makeup

Sean Hobin

Dga Trainee

Sam Hoffman

Set Production Assistant

Jere Huggins

Editor

David Hyde

Transportation Coordinator

Michael Hyde

Transportation Captain

Matthew Iadarola

Sound

Charles Johnson

Location Assistant

Harriette Kanew

Production Coordinator

Billy Kerwick

Dolly Grip

Cynthia Kimoto

Apprentice

Sarah E. Knowles

Art Assistant

Richard Kratina

Camera Operator

Ronna Kress

Casting Associate

Lawrence Lasker

Producer

Les Lazarowitz

Sound Mixer

Amy Lemisch

Associate Producer

Penny Marshall

Executive Producer

Bernadette Mazur

Makeup

John Mcconnell

Property Master Assistant

Margaret A Mitchell

Production Accountant

John Morris

Sound Editor

Gary Muller

Assistant Camera Operator

Alan Muraoka

Assistant Art Director

Linda Murphy

Boom Operator

Bob Newlan

Sound Editor

Randy Newman

Music

Lynn Nigro

Art Assistant

Nancy Novack

Apprentice Editor

Miroslav Ondricek

Dp/Cinematographer

Miroslav Ondricek

Director Of Photography

Sheila Paige

Script Supervisor

Mark Pappas

Foley Editor

Walter F. Parkes

Producer

Doug Pellegrino

Camera Assistant

Laura Perlman

Music Editor

Michele Perrone

Sound Editor

Ron Petagna

Construction Coordinator

Suzanne Pillsbury

Assistant Editor

Michelle Pleis

Sound Editor

George Potts

Assistant Costume Designer

Andrew Priestley

Assistant Camera Operator

Tom Priestley

Camera Operator

Dick Quinlan

Lighting Technician

Ed Quinn

Key Grip

Shannon Leigh Rayle

Office Assistant

Jerry Ross

Sound Editor

Oliver Sacks

Consultant

Oliver Sacks

Source Material (From Novel)

Donna Santora

Accounting Assistant

Arne L Schmidt

Executive Producer

Jon-michael Smith

Assistant

James Sorice

Scenic Artist

Thomas Southern

Scenic Artist

Howard Spiro

Apprentice

Hamilton Sterling

Sound Editor

Todd Thaler

Casting

Pamela Thur

Location Assistant

Bonnie Timmermann

Casting

Joe Trammell

Video Playback

Sylvia Trapanese

Scenic Artist

Glen Trotiner

Assistant Director

Tom Tumminello

Location Assistant

Bonnie A Wells

Assistant

Hugo Weng

Sound Editor

David Williams

Foley Editor

Tim Williams

Set Production Assistant

Linda Yeaney

Sound Editor

Steven Zaillian

Screenplay

Film Details

Also Known As
Despertares, Eveil, L' Eveil, Uppvaknanden, Zeit des Erwachens
MPAA Rating
Genre
Drama
Biography
Medical
Release Date
1990
Production Company
Michael Bedard
Distribution Company
Sony Pictures Releasing
Location
New York City, New York, USA; City Island, Bronx, New York, USA; New York Botanical Gardens, Brooklyn, New York, USA; Park Slope, Brooklyn, New York, USA; Kingsboro Psychiatric Center, Brooklyn, New York, USA

Technical Specs

Duration
2h 1m

Award Nominations

Best Actor

1990
Robert De Niro

Best Adapted Screenplay

1990

Best Picture

1990

Articles

Awakenings


British neurologist Oliver Sacks wrote a series of non-fiction books about his work with patients suffering from such diseases of the brain as encephalitis, Tourette's syndrome, and Parkinson's disease. But instead of writing in clinical medical terms, Sacks told the stories anecdotally, making them understandable and sympathetic to everyday readers. His most famous work was Awakenings, about his work in the 1960s with a group of patients in a Bronx psychiatric hospital who had been victims of encephalitis (sleeping sickness) in the 1920s, and had been catatonic ever since. Sacks learned that a new drug called L-Dopa had achieved some success with similar cases, and he tried it on his patients with startling results. The patients began to respond to stimuli, "awakening," after decades-long "sleep." But he found that the patients eventually reverted to their non-responsive states. The book, and Sacks' work, was the subject of a 1974 documentary, also called Awakenings, the first in the BBC Discovery series. It also inspired a play, A Kind of Alaska, by Harold Pinter. The film Awakenings (1990) is a fictionalized version of Sacks' book, starring Robin Williams as the Sacks character, a shy and reclusive doctor named Malcolm Sayer. Robert De Niro plays Leonard, one of Sayer's most extreme cases, and the first on whom the drug is tried.

Comic actress Penny Marshall, who had played Laverne DeFazio in the television series Laverne and Shirley, and had turned to directing films six years earlier, had recently directed the hit comedy Big (1988). She may have seemed an odd choice to direct Awakenings, but she provided the lightness that the film's downbeat story needed. Still, it took her two years to get Awakenings off the ground. 20th Century Fox was reluctant to commit to the project until Marshall convinced her friends Williams and De Niro to play the leading roles. In a 1992 New York Times Magazine interview, Marshall recalled that "the screenplay was collecting dust. It was too dark, too depressing. I didn't think it had to be oppressive. I just have to lighten the script, I can't help it." And as an actor herself, her strength was in drawing excellent performances from actors.

Both Williams and De Niro spent time with Oliver Sacks at the hospital, observing him and his work with patients. De Niro even filmed a scene with the only surviving patient from Sacks' L-Dopa experiment group. As Sacks later recalled, he had no idea how closely Williams was observing him. "When I'm nervous, I get this sort of odd posture, and I realized that Williams was in the same posture. Not because he was imitating me, but because by that point he had incorporated me, and that was a natural position for me. He had incorporated my posture, as he had incorporated my memories, my hopes, my experiences, my character. It was wonderful and rather frightening, suddenly having this younger twin. And at that point, both of us decided that we needed to make some space for him to create a character out of himself, which he did."

Sacks did have some reservations about Awakenings, but not about the performances. In a 1996 interview with Dwight Garner in Salon.com, Sacks said, "I was pleased with a great deal of it. I think in an uncanny way, De Niro did somehow feel his way into being Parkinsonian. So much so that sometimes when we were having dinner afterwards I would see his foot curl or he would be leaning to one side, as if he couldn't seem to get out of it. I think it was uncanny the way things were incorporated. At other levels I think things were sort of sentimentalized and simplified somewhat."

Some critics shared Sacks' concerns, and felt that Marshall's leavening the tragedy with comedy was misguided. Janet Maslin wrote in the New York Times that Sacks' account "is quite free of false sentiment, preferring to let the extraordinary facts of Dr. Sacks' medical detective story speak for themselves....Ms. Marshall's film....both sentimentalizes its story and oversimplifies it beyond recognition. At no point does the film express more than one idea at a time. And the idea expressed, more often than not, is as banal as the reality was bizarre." However, most critics had high praise for the performances. And at awards time, Awakenings racked up several nominations. Awakenings was a Best Picture and adapted screenplay Academy Award nominee, and De Niro got a Best Actor nomination. De Niro and Williams shared best actor honors from the National Board of Review, and De Niro won the Best Actor award from the New York Film Critics. Williams was nominated for a Golden Globe for his performance.

Director: Penny Marshall
Producer: Walter F. Parkes, Lawrence Lasker
Screenplay: Steven Zaillian, based on the book by Oliver Sacks
Cinematography: Miroslav Ondricek
Editor: Jerry Greenberg, Battle Davis, Jere Huggins
Costume Design: Cynthia Flynt
Art Direction: Bill Groom
Music: Randy Newman
Principal Cast: Robert De Niro (Leonard Lowe), Robin Williams (Dr. Malcolm Sayer), Julie Kavner (Eleanor Costello), Ruth Nelson (Mrs. Lowe), John Heard (Dr. Kaufman), Penelope Ann Miller (Paula), Alice Drummond (Lucy), Judith Malina (Rose).
C-121m. Letterboxed.

by Margarita Landazuri
Awakenings

Awakenings

British neurologist Oliver Sacks wrote a series of non-fiction books about his work with patients suffering from such diseases of the brain as encephalitis, Tourette's syndrome, and Parkinson's disease. But instead of writing in clinical medical terms, Sacks told the stories anecdotally, making them understandable and sympathetic to everyday readers. His most famous work was Awakenings, about his work in the 1960s with a group of patients in a Bronx psychiatric hospital who had been victims of encephalitis (sleeping sickness) in the 1920s, and had been catatonic ever since. Sacks learned that a new drug called L-Dopa had achieved some success with similar cases, and he tried it on his patients with startling results. The patients began to respond to stimuli, "awakening," after decades-long "sleep." But he found that the patients eventually reverted to their non-responsive states. The book, and Sacks' work, was the subject of a 1974 documentary, also called Awakenings, the first in the BBC Discovery series. It also inspired a play, A Kind of Alaska, by Harold Pinter. The film Awakenings (1990) is a fictionalized version of Sacks' book, starring Robin Williams as the Sacks character, a shy and reclusive doctor named Malcolm Sayer. Robert De Niro plays Leonard, one of Sayer's most extreme cases, and the first on whom the drug is tried. Comic actress Penny Marshall, who had played Laverne DeFazio in the television series Laverne and Shirley, and had turned to directing films six years earlier, had recently directed the hit comedy Big (1988). She may have seemed an odd choice to direct Awakenings, but she provided the lightness that the film's downbeat story needed. Still, it took her two years to get Awakenings off the ground. 20th Century Fox was reluctant to commit to the project until Marshall convinced her friends Williams and De Niro to play the leading roles. In a 1992 New York Times Magazine interview, Marshall recalled that "the screenplay was collecting dust. It was too dark, too depressing. I didn't think it had to be oppressive. I just have to lighten the script, I can't help it." And as an actor herself, her strength was in drawing excellent performances from actors. Both Williams and De Niro spent time with Oliver Sacks at the hospital, observing him and his work with patients. De Niro even filmed a scene with the only surviving patient from Sacks' L-Dopa experiment group. As Sacks later recalled, he had no idea how closely Williams was observing him. "When I'm nervous, I get this sort of odd posture, and I realized that Williams was in the same posture. Not because he was imitating me, but because by that point he had incorporated me, and that was a natural position for me. He had incorporated my posture, as he had incorporated my memories, my hopes, my experiences, my character. It was wonderful and rather frightening, suddenly having this younger twin. And at that point, both of us decided that we needed to make some space for him to create a character out of himself, which he did." Sacks did have some reservations about Awakenings, but not about the performances. In a 1996 interview with Dwight Garner in Salon.com, Sacks said, "I was pleased with a great deal of it. I think in an uncanny way, De Niro did somehow feel his way into being Parkinsonian. So much so that sometimes when we were having dinner afterwards I would see his foot curl or he would be leaning to one side, as if he couldn't seem to get out of it. I think it was uncanny the way things were incorporated. At other levels I think things were sort of sentimentalized and simplified somewhat." Some critics shared Sacks' concerns, and felt that Marshall's leavening the tragedy with comedy was misguided. Janet Maslin wrote in the New York Times that Sacks' account "is quite free of false sentiment, preferring to let the extraordinary facts of Dr. Sacks' medical detective story speak for themselves....Ms. Marshall's film....both sentimentalizes its story and oversimplifies it beyond recognition. At no point does the film express more than one idea at a time. And the idea expressed, more often than not, is as banal as the reality was bizarre." However, most critics had high praise for the performances. And at awards time, Awakenings racked up several nominations. Awakenings was a Best Picture and adapted screenplay Academy Award nominee, and De Niro got a Best Actor nomination. De Niro and Williams shared best actor honors from the National Board of Review, and De Niro won the Best Actor award from the New York Film Critics. Williams was nominated for a Golden Globe for his performance. Director: Penny Marshall Producer: Walter F. Parkes, Lawrence Lasker Screenplay: Steven Zaillian, based on the book by Oliver Sacks Cinematography: Miroslav Ondricek Editor: Jerry Greenberg, Battle Davis, Jere Huggins Costume Design: Cynthia Flynt Art Direction: Bill Groom Music: Randy Newman Principal Cast: Robert De Niro (Leonard Lowe), Robin Williams (Dr. Malcolm Sayer), Julie Kavner (Eleanor Costello), Ruth Nelson (Mrs. Lowe), John Heard (Dr. Kaufman), Penelope Ann Miller (Paula), Alice Drummond (Lucy), Judith Malina (Rose). C-121m. Letterboxed. by Margarita Landazuri

Quotes

Trivia

Miscellaneous Notes

Robert De Niro was named best actor of 1990 by the New York Film Critics Circle for his performances in "Awakenings" and "Goodfellas" (USA/90).

Winner of the third annual Scripter Award, given by the Friends of the University of Southern California (USC) Libraries, for the best film adaptation of a book.

Released in United States Winter December 20, 1990

Limited Release in United States December 20, 1990

Wide Release in United States January 11, 1991

Released in United States on Video August 7, 1991

Formerly distributed by RCA/Columbia Pictures Home Video.

Began shooting October 16, 1989.

Completed shooting February 16, 1990.

Max von Sydow appears in a cameo.

Released in United States Winter December 20, 1990

Limited Release in United States December 20, 1990

Wide Release in United States January 11, 1991

Released in United States on Video August 7, 1991

Robert De Niro and Robin Williams were co-winners of the 1990 award for Best Actor from the National Board of Review.