Jonathan Bailey and Bill Nighy to Star in Oliver Sacks Love Story ‘Insomniac City

Jonathan Bailey and Bill Nighy are set to headline Insomniac City, Dominic Cooke’s adaptation of Bill Hayes’ memoir chronicling his romance with neurologist Oliver Sacks. Altitude is steering worldwide sales on the package at the American Film Market.

Two Generations of British Screen Muscle Anchor a Delicate True Romance

Bailey takes the role of Hayes, the writer and photographer whose 2017 memoir charts his arrival in New York from San Francisco after a devastating loss. Nighy embodies Sacks, the celebrated neurologist whose late-life partnership with Hayes forms the film’s emotional spine.

The pairing hands Cooke a rare collision of eras: Bailey’s post-Bridgerton heat against Nighy’s veteran awards-season pedigree. That contrast gives international buyers a recognizable two-hander rather than a single-star vehicle.

Cooke, who has steered literary and period material with controlled intimacy before, co-wrote the screenplay with Hayes himself. Having the memoirist inside the writing room signals a fidelity-first adaptation rather than a loosened Hollywood gloss.

Producers Troy Lum and Andrew Mason of Brouhaha Entertainment are financing the build alongside Bailey, Mike Goodridge, and Gabrielle Tana. Altitude’s Will Clarke, Andy Mayson, and Mike Runagall executive produce, keeping the sales apparatus tight to the production.

Prestige Romance as a Buyer’s Bet in a Crowded Market

The project lands on AFM’s floor as a standalone literary adaptation, not a franchise play. Its value proposition is the kind of adult, internationally translatable drama that travels cleanly across European and Anglophone territories.

Variety has positioned the film as “an intimate and uplifting portrait of grief, hope, community and second chances.” That framing is the sales reel in miniature, emotionally legible, awards-adjacent, and built for specialty distributors rather than four-quadrant tentpole math.

For Bailey, the role extends a run of high-visibility film and television work into more restrained, character-driven territory. Nighy brings the gravitas that buyers associate with accessible prestige, a profile that has anchored specialty releases for years.

Altitude’s decision to shop the package at AFM rather than hold it for a later market reflects urgency to lock foreign presales early. Early territory commitments reduce the financing exposure before cameras roll.

Every element here (the two-hander structure, the New York setting, the real-life romance) points to a contained budget with outsized emotional reach. For buyers, that is a cleaner bet than another mid-budget genre swing.

The production calendar remains a closely held piece of the package, with the sales team keeping scheduling details inside the room as territory deals take shape. Track the rollout across our trade entertainment wire desk as the AFM conversations convert into firm commitments.