Netflix Releases First Look at New Thriller ‘Awake’
On Wednesday May 5, Netflix released a trailer for the new apocalyptic thriller, Awake. The film stars Gina Rodriguez (Jane the Virgin, Someone Great) as Jill, a mother of two. Together, they fight to survive in a world without technology, no power, and to top it off, no one can sleep. As Jill battles to keep herself and her children alive in a world overtaken by the extreme effects of sleep deprivation, she realized that her daughter’s unique ability to sleep might be the only way to save humankind.
Film director, Mark Raso stated during an interview with Entertainment Weekly, “We were presented with this idea of what if something happened and no one can fall asleep? Immediately I thought of this Sophie’s Choice type scenario. I was looking for something to ground the story in reality.”
Raso searched for the perfect actress to bring the film to life. After turning to Annihalation to look into another actor, Raso discovered Rodriguez, who soon became just as thrilled about the project. “I couldn’t put the script down,” Rodriguez mentioned, “I was like, Oh, wow, the whole time.” Rodriguez was particularly captured by the concept of living in a world without any electricity or technology. “That was so intriguing,” she stated. “Even just considering how often I have my phone in my hand — it’s like a third arm. I put myself there and I was like really blown away, truly freaked out.”
While dealing with a completely different world than the one she is used to, Jill also fights internal conflicts. “We wanted her to be someone who was struggling with her self-worth in the world,” says Raso. Not only is Jill trying to keep her children and herself alive amid an apocalypse, she is also a recovering addict, lost her husband at war, a vet, and she doesn’t currently have custody of her kids. “We wanted to point a finger at some of the issues in society today — or pre-pandemic society,” says Raso. “The whole idea was that we wanted to give her somewhere to go, which is to find her self-worth. As a mother, primarily, she’s someone who would do anything for her kids.”
A mysterious catastrophe wipes out humanity’s ability to sleep.
— NetflixFilm (@NetflixFilm) May 5, 2021
Don’t sleep on AWAKE, an original thriller directed by Mark Raso, only on Netflix June 9. pic.twitter.com/nhBPUHSd1T
Rodriguez expresses that the chaos and the hardships in Jill’s life was a compelling factor in her decision to accept the role. “When I look at a project, I think to myself, can I do this? Is there a challenge in this? Am I finding new ways to express myself? Are there worlds that I get to play in that I never had or would ever?” she says. “Jill was so much more… There are so many different journeys that she’s going on. There’s the personal journey and there’s this global experience.”
Raso believes that, despite all of the strain and battle, the film still relays a message of hope. “I think underneath it all — and this is going to sound extremely weird — but I was trying to make a more hopeful film,” he says. He expressed how his central message to get across in the film is that the world could use a “reset”.
Be sure to stream Awake as it premieres on Netflix on June 9.
