Awakenings
As Dr. Malcolm Sayer
1990 | Drama | 121 min | PG-13
As Dr. Malcolm Sayer
Penny Marshall
Steven Zaillian
Randy Newman
December 12, 1990 (Century City, CA)
December 17, 1990 (Loew's Fine Art Theater, New York, NY)
December 20, 1990 (limited)
January 11, 1991 (wide)
September 10, 1997
March 22, 2011 (order
Columbia Pictures Corporation, Lasker/Parkes Productions
Columbia Pictures
Dr. Malcolm Sayer
Leonard Lowe
Eleanor Costello
Mrs. Lowe
Lucy Fishman
Anthony
A new doctor finds himself with a ward full of comatose patients. He is disturbed by them and the fact that they have been comatose for decades with no hope of any cure. When he finds a possible chemical cure he gets permission to try it on one of them. When the first patient awakes, he is now an adult, having gone into a coma in his early teens. The film then details the reactions of their relatives and to the changes of the newly awakened.
Earthworms.
I'm sorry?
It was an immense project. I was trying to extract 1 decigram of myelin from 4 tons of earthworms.
Really?
Yes, I was on that project for 5 years. I was the only one who believed in it. Everyone else said it couldn't be done.
It can't.
I know that now. I proved it.
It's quiet.
Yes, everybody's sleeping.
I'm not.
No, you're awake.
That's the Periodic Table of Elements. I can date my introduction to science by that. It's wonderful, really. It's, uh... It's the universe at its essence. You see, you have your alkaline metals. You have your halogens, your inert gases. Every element has its place in that order. You can't chance that. They're secure, no matter what.
You're not married?
Me? No, I'm not very good with people. I--I never have been, Leonard. I like them. Maybe, if they were less unpredictable.
Eleanor would disagree with you.
Eleanor?
Miss Costello.
Oh, of course. She has spoken to you about me? What did she say?
That you're a kind man. That you care very much for people.
Dr. Sayer, something about fruit trees.
Prune the fruit trees.
I will.
Hartelijk bedankt.
Lucy, what year is it?
What year is it? It's '26, silly.
I have always loved carnegia, haven't you?
Dr. Sayer, did you choose this place? Why?
I always come here.
Why? I mean, don't get me wrong, it's a nice place, but after the first hour it loses something.
Miss Costello, Anthony thinks the group is bored.
They are.
I thought about taking them to the Opera House.
The Opera...?
Or the museum of Natural History?
Oh, no no no no, I don't think so. There's a lot of dead, stuffed things there.
What else is there?
There is no such thing as a simple miracle.
This title is available on:
City Island, New York, NY
Bronx, NY
February 14, 1991
February 15, 1991
February 20, 1991
February 21, 1991
March 1, 1991
March 8, 1991
March 14, 1991
March 15, 1991
April 13, 1991
May 1991
Despertares
L'éveil
Zeit des Erwachens
Ébredések
Cas probuzení
Heräämisiä
Oppvåkningen
Prebujenja
Przebudzenia
Risvegli
Tempo de Despertar
Uppvaknanden
Uyanislar
Xypnimata
This film is based on a true story. Robin's character is based on Dr. Oliver Sacks.
Robin will forever be grateful for happy accidents after learning he'd broken Robert De Niro's nose on the set of Awakenings. Robin felt sure his life and career were over when he accidentally struck De Niro, breaking his nose--but his moment of madness actually corrected a previous break. Robin explains, "I heard this noise and went, 'Oh Jesus,' and he got up and he was, 'I'm OK, I'm OK,' and his nose was bleeding like crazy... There was a millisecond where you went, 'F**k... dead man.' Later on he said that his doctor said that I had put his nose back in place from when he'd broken his nose on Raging Bull."
$52,096,475 (USA)
N/A (international)
$52,096,475 (total)
Limited: $417,076 (12 theaters)
Wide: $8,306,532 (1,282 theaters)
1,330 theaters
Nom - 1991 - Best Actor in a Leading Role (Robert De Niro)
Nom - 1991 - Best Picture
Nom - 1991 - Best Screenplay Adaptation
Nom - 1991 - Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture - Drama (Robin)
Nom - 1992 - Best Instrumental Composition Written for a Motion Picture or for Television (Randy Newman)
Won - 1990 - Best Actor (Robert De Niro)
