Film 03 / 13 · Directed by Christopher Nolan
Christopher Nolan's Insomnia (2002)
Insomnia is Christopher Nolan's third feature, a 2002 thriller starring Al Pacino, Robin Williams and Hilary Swank. A Los Angeles detective sent to an Alaskan town where the sun never sets loses sleep, and slowly his grip, during a murder case. It is a remake of the 1997 Norwegian film of the same name.
Two Los Angeles detectives fly to a small fishing town in Alaska to help investigate the murder of a teenage girl. It is summer, and the sun never goes down.
Will Dormer cannot sleep. During a chase through thick fog something goes badly wrong, and soon a local crime writer seems to know more about it than he should.
Ratings
As of 11 November 2026- IMDb7.2/10354K votes
- Rotten Tomatoes92%Tomatometer · 205 reviewsPopcornmeter 77%
- Metacritic78/100Metascore · 37 reviews
- Letterboxd3.55/5Average rating
- Kinopoisk7.4/10104.9K votes
Editor's score
Lars Ziegler · 6 November 20267.3/ 10Average of seven craft categories, each out of 10.
| Screenplay | 7 |
|---|---|
| Direction | 7 |
| Acting | 9 |
| Cinematography | 8 |
| Sound & music | 6 |
| Editing | 7 |
| Design | 7 |
How the ranking adds up
Total 62.0 / 100Facts
- World premiere
Tribeca Film Festival, New York City- Release (US)
- Runtime
- 118 min
- Genres
- Thriller · Crime · Drama
- Based on
- The 1997 Norwegian film Insomnia by Nikolaj Frobenius and Erik Skjoldbjærg
- Studios
- Alcon Entertainment, Witt/Thomas Productions, Section Eight Productions
- Distributor
- Warner Bros. Pictures
- Budget
- $46 million
- Box office
- $113.8 million worldwide
$67.4 million domestic · $46.4 million international
Incl. re-releases · Box Office Mojo, 11 November 2026
Awards
Wikipedia, 11 November 2026No Oscar, BAFTA or Golden Globe nominations.
Cast
Billing order- 01Al PacinoWill Dormer
- 02Robin WilliamsWalter Finch
- 03Hilary SwankEllie Burr
- 04Maura TierneyRachel Clement
- 05Martin DonovanHap Eckhart
- 06Nicky KattFred Duggar
- 07Paul DooleyChief Nyback
Key crew
- Director
- Christopher Nolan
- Screenplay
- Hillary Seitz
- Producers
- Paul Junger Witt, Edward L. McDonnell, Broderick Johnson, Andrew A. Kosove
- Cinematography
- Wally Pfister
- Editing
- Dody Dorn
- Music
- David Julyan
- Production design
- Nathan Crowley
Production notes
- 01
It is the only feature Nolan directed without a writing credit. The screenplay is by Hillary Seitz.
- 02
The fictional town of Nightmute, Alaska, was filmed mostly in and around Squamish, British Columbia.
- 03
Steven Soderbergh and George Clooney were among the executive producers.