Insomnia Filming Locations: Where Is The Psychological Thriller Filmed?

Having to investigate the murder of a teenage girl will never be easy for anyone, but one needs to do what needs to be done to bring justice to the deceased. For a cop to get involved in the investigation leads to his stability getting threatened after he gets involved in a game of cat and mouse chase with the prime suspect.

A psychological thriller film titled Insomnia left the audience gasping for more after its big theatrical release on 3 May 2023. Directed by Christopher Nolan, the psychological thriller focuses on Will and his partner as they investigate the murder case of Kay Connell, a 17-year-old teenager.

Things escalate after Will gets involved in a game of chase with Kay’s killer. Based on a film from a 1977 film, the psychological thriller stars Al Pacino Will Dormers’ role, and the film’s protagonist, Robin Williams, plays Walter’s role.

Hilary Swank plays Ellie’s role, Maura Tierney plays Rachels’ role, Martin Donovan plays Harps’ role, Nicky Katt plays Fred’s role, Paul Dooley plays Chief Nyback’s role, and Crystal Lowe plays Kay Connell’s role in the lead role.

The film’s recurring cast stars Jay Brazeau plays Francis’s role, Larry Holden plays Farrell’s role, Kerry Sandomisky plays Trish’s role, Lorne Cardinal plays Rich’s role, Katharine Isabelle plays Tanya’s role, and Jonathan Jackson plays Randy’s role.

Insomnia did unexpectedly well with the audience and earned a massive box office collection of $114 M with an initial budget of $46 M. Produced by Paul Junger Witt and Tony Thomas, and the viewers fell in love with Al Pacino and Robin’s performance in the film.

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Insomnia Recap

The film focuses on Will and Hap investigating the case of a cold-brutal murder of Kay, a seventeen-year-old teenager in Nightmute. The film starts with Kay’s body found after she is murdered in Nightmute, Alaska, a small fishing town.

Will Dormer and Hap Eckhart, two detectives from the Los Angeles police department, assist the local police officers with their investigation of Kay’s murder. Ellie picks up Will and his partner at the airport when the pair arrives to help the local officers in their investigations.

Meanwhile, internal affairs are investigating one of Dormers’ past cases back in Los Angeles. Eckhart reveals his intentions to testify against Dormer in exchange for immunity while the pair are having a chat back at the hotel. To Eckhart’s attempt of intimidation, Dormer replies that many criminals would get to walk free if the old cases get reopened due to his using questionable methods to convict them.

Dormer attracts the murderer to the crime scene, but the accused flees into the fog, seeing his chance. Dormer fires from his backup weapon after his primary jams on a figure he saw in the fleet of fog. In a turn of events, it turns out that instead of shooting the suspect, Dormer has shot his partner Eckhart.

Eckhart succumbed to his injury, believing that Will shot him on purpose. Meanwhile, Dormer starts to think that internal affairs wouldn’t believe that his shooting Eckhart was an accident due to a pending testimony on his behalf as they are working on his previous cases back in Los Angeles.

Will claims that the suspect shot Eckhart to save himself and hides the fact that he has the 38. pistol that was used to shoot Eckhart. Meanwhile, Burr gets put in charge of Eckhart’s shooting investigation, and his team finds out the bullet that ended Eckhart’s life. On the same night, Will walks into a passage and shoots the 38. pistol in an animal carcass before retrieving the bullet and cleaning it.

Will brilliantly switches the original bullet retrieved by the pathologist from Eckhart’s body with the 38 bullets at the morgue. Will suffers from insomnia for a few days following the events of Eckhart’s death. The reason behind Will’s insomnia turns out to be his guilt over killing, Hap exacerbated by the perpetual daylight.

Will also starts receiving anonymous calls from the killer claiming to have witnessed Will killing his partner. Will breaks into Finch’s house after learning that Kay was a fan of his crime writing. Walter arrives at his home before realizing that the police are present there, before evading Will after a tough chase.

Will frames Walter for Hap’s murder by planting the .38 in his apartment. Finch arranges a meeting with Will at a ferry through a phone call as he wants Will’s help in shifting the suspicion of Kays’ murder on her abusive boyfriend. Walter offers Will the deal involving his silence about Will killing Hap in exchange for shifting the blame of Kay’s murder on her boyfriend.

Walter informs Will about Kay’s death being an accident through a call. Walter revealed that he beat Kay to death in a fit of fury, following Kay laughing at him for making sexual advances on her. Following this, Walter gives a false testimony, claiming Randy has a gun the next day.

Will realizes that Walter found the gun he hid in his apartment and has shifted into Randy’s home. Will leaves for Randy’s house in a hurry and begins to search his house for the gun before hiding at the police’s arrival. Randy gets arrested after the police find out the gu, Walter, hid at his place.

Burr returns to the crime scene where Hap was shot and finds the 9 mm shell casing, which conflicts with the bulled found in Haps’ body. Burr starts to become suspicious of Will after learning that he carries a 9 mm with him by studying his previous cases. Will learns about Burr going to Finn’s house before realizing Walters’ intention of killing Burr.

After Will arrives at the lake house where Walter has kept Burr captive, a crossfire starts between the trio. The film ends with Will dying from a bullet shot by Walter and Walter dying from the bullet fired by Burr. The best part of the end is Will convincing Burr not to lose her way when she attempts to throw away the 9 mm to protect Will’s reputation.

Insomnia: Filming Locations

The filming for the psychological thriller started in April 2001 and wrapped up in June 2001, with Alaska as the prime location.

1. Alaska

Known for its native culture and open spaces, a non-contiguous state of the U.S., Alaska was used to film some parts of the psychological thriller Insomnia. The opening scenes of the film were shot over Colombian Glacier. The float plane approach parts were filmed at Portland Canal near Hyde, Alaska.

2. Vancouver

Known for its scenic beauty and for being the largest Chinatown in Canada, Vancouver was used for the filming of the psychological thriller Insomnia. Vancouver is located in the Lower Mainland in British Columbia’s region.

It is one of the most linguistically and ethnically diverse cities in Canada. Some parts of the movie were filmed in different parts of Vancouver. The scene where Will shot his partner by accident was filmed in Clementine Creek, Vancouver.

3. British Colombia

Known for scenic beauty, healthy lifestyle, and recreational activities, the westernmost province of Canada, British Colombia, was used to film the majority of psychological thriller movies. The scene with Will deciding to plant evidence and then doing it in Walters’ house is filmed on Vancouver Island, British Colombia.

The scene where Hap and Will are at a hotel in Nightmute discussing Hap’s decision to testify against him in the next case was filmed in Squamish, British Colombia.

The final scene, where Will talks to Rachel where he confides about the reason for internal affairs investigating his previous case, is filmed in Squamish, British Colombia. The end scene with the crossfire that led to Will getting fired at was filmed in the Bear Glacier Provincial Park, British Colombia.

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