Benedict Cumberbatch and Laura Dern to star in sleepless sci-fi movie from Justin Kurzel
The film, Morning, takes place in a world where people no longer need to sleep
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Sleeping is pretty cool. It reenergizes you, gives you a chance to stay in one place without having to move too much, and sometimes you have wacky dreams where your teeth fall out or you’re in school taking a test you didn’t know about. But what the new film from director Justin Kurzel—who is referred to in this Variety story as the director of Assassin’s Creed first and the director of the Palme d’Or-nominated Nitram second—presupposes is: What if sleep is dumb and bad?
In the world of Morning, humanity “has evolved beyond the need to sleep thanks to a new pill and artificial sun.” The movie will star Laura Dern as an “early proponent” of this “no sleep” lifestyle… at least until her husband, Benedict Cumberbatch, dies and “her sleepless world crumbles around her.” At the same time, their son, Noah Jupe, has fallen in with a bad crowd that wants to “rebel in an attempt to reclaim their dreams.” Who likes metaphors? Because this movie’s got some!
Morning is being produced by SunnyMarch, the label founded by Cumberbatch and Adam Ackland, and in a statement, Ackland referred to it as “a joyful, reflective, and defiant story about a reality not so far from our own where a preoccupation with productivity as destroyed our ability to connect, grieve, and love.” Again: metaphors.
Now let’s take a moment to contemplate what this sleepless world would mean for animal life. Do owls come out during the day? Or are they all extinct? Will anyone ever hear the song “Baker Street” again if they’re not cruising around after the sun goes down? That’s not about animals, but it was the only other nighttime thing we could think of. Fireworks happen at night, that’s another one, but those are the only things that happen at night.
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Pro-sleep rebellious teenager? “Yeah, we all get together and have a warm milk and a nap! It’s not a phase, mom!”
Then they go with their droogs to the cinny to shove a pooshka into the grahzny bratchny.
I’m not a huge Nancy Kress fan, but she better be getting some royalties out of this.
Is she paying royalties to JG Ballard (Manhole 69)?
I found “Manhole 69″ on the Internet, and I’m reading it now.I’d never heard of the story before you mentioned it….
Was one of the legendary gimmick accounts of the AV Club Disqus era a Nancy Kress one? I seem to remember that it was …
Exactly what I thought, Dr. Lizardo!In fact, I kind of wondered why this wasn’t an adaptation of Beggars in Spain….
My wife farts a lot in her sleep, so that’s another thing that happens at night.
Also happens at night: The freaks come out.
It’s also when I wear my sunglasses.
Gawd, imagine how many hours you’d be expected to work per week if nobody had to sleep.
I’ve had a glimpse. Worked with a woman who only needed 4 hours of sleep. She did all kinds of extra work at home. After a while, other people were getting “be more like her” hints from management. Hopefully we’ll solve this current trend of bowing to productivity and profit margins before we figure out how to not sleep.
i like the guy but, benedict cumberbatch take a vacation, please! this man is the white lil rel howery.
Struggling to understand how humans being able to choose whether or not to sleep would impact owls in the slightest. Also, wouldn’t the end of sleep mean an all-time high for things that typically happen at night, like driving and fireworks?
And hey, while I’m nitpicking inconsequential shit, film production companies aren’t called labels, by anyone. What they are called are . . . production companies, or, in this instance, a term even catchier than label, “Shingles,” which are typically reserved for vanity production companies like the one in question here.
Yes, I am fun at parties, why do you ask?