While being treated for a kidney stone Awake writer director Joby Harold got the idea for the thriller about the phenomenon of anesthetic awareness. Patients who are under the drug can still feel pain but can't convey it.

Hayden Christensen stars as a heart transplant patient who while undergoing a routine procedure by his doctor friend played by Terrence Howard suddenly wakes up.

“Well he goes in for this operation and experiences anesthetic awareness which is something that is quite prevalent these days I guess. Hundreds of thousands of lawsuits each year that deal with this very thing. More people go in for an operation or something where they get put under and they remember it and they experience it. They either hear it or they felt something or either way they weren't completely under and it is terrifying apparently. I mean as you could imagine because you're more or less paralyzed and you can't do anything about it.”

The experience felt so real that even sometimes the crew forgot that Hayden was tied down on an operating table unable to communicate.

“I think people appreciate that it wasn't the most comfortable for me. I mean we laugh about it all the time because I'm stuck there unable to move, unable to scratch my face if I have an itch. I need help to get out of it and sometimes people forget that I'm still there and they'll leave set and I'll be yelling after them, 'hey I need to get out!'”

Awake currently playing in theaters also stars Jessica Alba as Hayden's fiance and has a surprise twist that you don't see coming.

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