Awakenings Page #2

Synopsis: Awakenings is a 1990 American drama film based on Oliver Sacks's 1973 memoir of the same title. It tells the true story of British neurologist Oliver Sacks, fictionalized as American Malcolm Sayer (portrayed by Robin Williams), who, in 1969, discovered beneficial effects of the drug L-Dopa. He administered it to catatonic patients who survived the 1917–28 epidemic of encephalitis lethargica. Leonard Lowe (played by Robert De Niro) and the rest of the patients were awakened after decades of catatonia and have to deal with a new life in a new time. The film was nominated for three Academy Awards.
Genre: Biography, Drama
Production: Columbia Pictures
  Nominated for 3 Oscars. Another 6 wins & 8 nominations.
 
IMDB:
7.8
Metacritic:
74
Rotten Tomatoes:
88%
PG-13
Year:
1990
121 min
1,957 Views


Kaufman can't believe it, but is sent back a look that says,

We have no choice. The Director gets up out of his chair, and,

smiling broadly, extends his hand to Sayer. Which unsettles

Sayer. Which in turn unsettles the Director.

DIRECTOR:

(not far from v

begging)

You do want the job, don't you?

Sayerisn'tsosure. Hethinksaboutitlongandhard. ..

8. INT. CORRIDOR -BAINBRIDGE -DAY 8.

Moving along a corridor crowded "with patients, some ambulatory,

some in wheelchairs, "living people" living with profound

neurological disease.

ANTHONY O.S.

Spent much time in chronic

hospitals, doctor?

A patient approaches, and, passing Sayer and the orderly who's

escorting him (ANTHONY), offers

FEMALE PATIENT 1

Hello. Hello. Hello. Hello...

REV.12/15/89 (GREEN) pg.7

8.C0NT. ANTHONY 8.

(to Sayer)

You'd remember.

SAYER:

I guess not.

As they pass an old patient in a wheelchair

ANTHONY:

Hey, how you doing?

(calling to someone

down the hall)

Dr. Sullivan.

Staying on the old patient, he eventually manages, too late

OLD PATIENT:

Fine...

Down the hall in an alcove, Dr. Sullivan glances up long

sufferingly from-a.patient~with'.an .Ouij a-board who !.s mumbling, *

complaining, unintelligibly. Anthony and Sayer arrrive.

ANTHONY:

Dr. Sullivan, this is Dr. Sayer;

'':
:' ' -'.

There's a kind a "deadness" in Sullivan's eyes and voice; he's

been here too long.

SULLIVAN:

Not the neurologist, that'd be

asking too much. You're not the

neurologist.

SAYER:

I think I am.

Sayer extends his hand. Instead of shaking it

SULLIVAN:

Well, come on, Anthony, get him a

coat for Christ's sake.

-Sullivan thrusts his clipboard into Sayer's hand.

9. OMITTED 9.

10. INT. DAYROOM (A) -DAY 10.

A woman in a wheelchair uttering high-pitched screams (FEMALE

PATIENT 2). Sayer in a lab coat trying to calm her.

REV.12/15/89 (GREEN) Pg.7

10.CONT. SAYER . 10.

They're just pencils, pens.

He tries to prove it to her by removing one of them from the

pocket of his white coat. Screaming louder at the sight of it,

she tries to protect her face with her hands like a boxer being

beaten senseless.

11. INT. DAYROOM (B) -DAY v 11.

A man in his sixties confronts Sayer with an announcement in a

loud commanding voice

MALE PATIENT 1

X was born in I911f in

Kinasbridae, New York. I came

here in July of 1955. Prior to

July of 1955. I resided a£ the

Brooklyn Psychiatric Centerf

Brooklyn. New York. Prior to

thatP I was a person. And you.

sir.-i Who the* hell >are.*v.ou? .

12. INT. DAYROOM (C) -DAY 12.

Stepping around a wheelchair, Sayer finds in it an elderly

woman, nicely dressed, her hair done-up, a ribbon in it.

Rate this script:1.8 / 4 votes

Steven Zaillian

Steven Ernest Bernard Zaillian (born January 30, 1953) is an American screenwriter, director, film editor, and producer. He won an Academy Award, a Golden Globe Award and a BAFTA Award for his screenplay Schindler's List (1993) and has also earned Oscar nominations for Awakenings, Gangs of New York and Moneyball. He was presented with the Distinguished Screenwriter Award at the 2009 Austin Film Festival and the Laurel Award for Screenwriting Achievement from the Writers Guild of America in 2011. Zaillian is the founder of Film Rites, a film production company. more…

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Submitted by aviv on February 09, 2017

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