Laura Dern and Noah Jupe of the A Quiet Place franchise will be joining Benedict Cumberbatch in Justin Kurzel's upcoming sci-fi film Morning.
Kurzel's upcoming film will take place in the near future, centering on a society that has removed the need to sleep thanks to a pill that erases the essential human need. This, along with an artificial sun has set the world into an eternal day. But as the first generation to not experience sleep comes of age, they will rebel to reclaim the world of dreams. Morning will tell a story that focuses on our ideas of productivity, power, and the importance of dreaming. This film comes at a time when generational tensions are high. With gen-z, a generation born into the chaos of a post-September Eleventh world now coming of age, questions of lost dreams and an unsustainable focus on productivity to the point of constant surveillance are certainly topics ripe for discussion.
Laura Dern, who has previously starred in HBO's Big Little Lies, is set to play Cathy, once an advocate for a sleepless world, she now sees the world she created crumbling around her. As she and her son Danny, played by Noah Jupe, work to recover from the death of her husband and his father Frank, played by Benedict Cumberbatch, her world, once a utopian end-game, becomes much more complicated. As they process their grief, she will find that her son Danny is being drawn into the underworld of dreamers. Now Cathy must fight to save her son.
Morning is directed by Justin Kurzel, an Australian filmmaker who previously directed the 2021 film Nitram, which was nominated for the Palme d'Or. Morning was written by writer Sam Steiner. The screenplay was picked up by Cumberbatch and Adam Ackland’s film production company SunnyMarch. Cumberbatch will executive produce the film alongside costar Laura Dern. Also executive producing is Jayme Lemons, through their company Jaywalker Pictures. Marnie Podos also serves as executive producer. The film is a SunnyMarch and Jaywalker Pictures production. HanWay Films is set to handle international sales and distribution. CAA Media Finance and UTA Independent Film Group are both in charge of the U.S. sale of the film.
Of the film, HanWay Films MD Gabrielle Stewart said, "Morning asks so many questions of us as people with ambitions, hopes, emotions, and dreams, and it is fascinating to debate what sleep means to our very existence and our souls. What would we be like if we had never dreamt? It also contains the spirit of youth rebelling against the choices of their parents. Morning provokes, moves, entices... and it has an amazing team behind it."
No release date has yet been set for the film.