The near-future of Morning, the upcoming film from director Justin Kurzel (Assassin’s Creed), is not one I want to live in: there, society has evolved beyond sleep thanks to a drug and an artificial sun.
This is the stuff of nightmares? Bodies need sleep? Unsurprisingly, perhaps, the no-sleep thing doesn’t seem to work out that well.
The Hollywood Reporter summed up the film’s story:
Morning is set in a near future where society has a pill that does away with the need to sleep. With the added help of an artificial sun, there is finally no end to morning daylight, living and work. But as a young generation grows up deprived of the world of sleep, is it time for them to rebel and reclaim their dreams?
Laura Dern (The Last Jedi, pictured above) stars as Cathy, who embraces the no-sleep world; Benedict Cumberbatch (Doctor Strange) has a supporting role as her husband, Frank. Their son Danny (Noah Jupe) is part of the generation that wants their dreams back.
Morning director Justin Kurzel has an interesting resume; sure, Assassin’s Creed was ridiculous, but he followed that with the well-reviewed True History of the Kelly Gang and then Nitram, which has yet to be released in the US. Caleb Landry Jones won Best Actor at Cannes for his performance in Nitram, which looks at the tragic 1996 Port Arthur massacre in Tasmania, Australia.
Cumberbatch and Dern are also executive producers on the film, which hasn’t yet set a production start date.
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