Insomnia

Insomnia

Will Dormer

Hap Eckhart

Pilot

Ellie Burr

Chief Nyback

Fred Duggar

Farrell

Francis

Rich

Officer #1

Officer #2

Coroner

Kay Connell

Mrs. Connell

Rachel Clement

Randy Stetz

Principal

Walter Finch

Trish Eckhart

Uniformed Officer (as Chris Guthior)

Warfield (voice)

Woman on the Road

Girl at Funeral (as Emily Jane Perkins)

Ticket Taker

Some more explicit or dark details were changed from the original Norwegian film Insomnia (1997) such as: the dead dog Dormer shoots in this film is alive in the original; Dormer does some reckless driving to scare the dead girl's friend, in the original he grabs her between the legs; Dormer and the hotel clerk share their thoughts a lot in the film, in the original they flirt a lot and he almost rapes her; the extremely downbeat ending in the original has been changed.

Although primarily known for comedic roles, this is one of two thrillers in which Robin Williams starred in the same year. The other being One Hour Photo.

Will Dormer's name comes from the Latin word "dormire" - to sleep.

When Dormer first enters Finch's apartment, he picks the lock using a credit card. After the door is open, we see him getting his hand back to his pocket and in the next shot he has some snacks in his hand to bribe the dogs to let him in. Since his hand motion is very quick and brief, it either serves to get the snacks from the pocket, in which case the credit card simply disappears, or to get the card back to the pocket, in which case the snacks materialize out of nowhere.

When the police officers are waiting for the murderer to return to the cabin for the girl's backpack (Scene 8 on the DVD), they are talking about firearms. One of the Alaska cops says "Yeah that's nice, mine's all plastic save the barrel and firing pin - never rusts. What do you carry down in LA?" In the real world, the only part on his Glock that is plastic is the frame. The barrel, firing pin, trigger components, and SLIDE are all metal. Seeing how the Glock's frame (that's the big part on top) is 100% blued metal, it rusts just as easily as anything else.

When Ellie Burr asks Dormer to sign the report and Dormer tells her to be sure of all of her facts, he walks out of shot having taken his glasses off. In the next brief shot of him passing by so we can see Ellie's reaction, his glasses are back on his face.

Rachel Clement: I can't judge. There are two kinds of people in Alaska: those who were born here and those who come here to escape something. I wasn't born here.

Ellie Burr: Nobody needs to know. You didn't mean to do it, and I know that, even if you don't.

Walter Finch: Kay called and said she and Randy had had a fight. She wanted to come over and talk, meet me at her place. She comes over, she's distraught, a little drunk. She starts telling me how Randy and Tanya were carrying on. I only wanted to comfort her, hold her... I kissed her and... got a little exited... and then... she started laughing at me. She didn't stop laughing. Did you ever have someone laugh at you, Will? You know, when you're really vulnerable, laughing their ass off at you? Someone you thought respected you? Ever have that happen, Will? I just wanted to stop her laughing that's all. And then you know, I hit her. A couple of times, just to stop her. Let her know, a little respect. Randy did it all the time, I think she even liked it when he did it. I mean she never blamed him, she never wanted to leave him. But now I do it, she starts screaming... she wouldn't stop. She's terrified, she's screaming her head off, I put my hand over her mouth. And then I get really scared, I mean, I'm scared shitless, more scared than I've ever been. And I'm more scared than her, and then... everything's clear. There's no turning back. After that, I was calm. Real calm. You and I share a secret. We know how easy it is to kill someone. That ultimate taboo, it doesn't exist outside our minds. I didn't murder her. I killed her. But it just ended up that way.