Trailer
Plot summary
Susan Wheeler is a surgical resident in Boston, and her friend Nancy Greenly goes in for a routine procedure at the hospital. Nancy comes out brain dead. Going over the records, Susan sees that a striking number of otherwise healthy young patients have ended up in comas over the past year. Two things tie the cases together: the same operating room, and the transfer of the comatose patients to the Jefferson Institute, a care facility in the countryside. Susan's boyfriend, Dr. Mark Bellows, thinks this is coincidence. Her request to review charts angers Dr. George, the chief of anesthesiology, and her superiors at the hospital pressure her over her behavior.
Cast
- Gary Bartonas Computer Technician
- Frank Downingas Kelly
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about Coma (1978)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- Crichton says that even though the lead in the book was a female, the studio talked about getting Paul Newman to play it, but he fought it, saying that "if a man had done the movie, it would be a much more conventional thing". Genevieve Bujold played the part instead.
- The film's medical-conspiracy premise had real-world fallout: Variety reported it as a possible cause behind a drop in organ donor numbers, and a Tampa hospital reportedly removed the number "8" from an operating room door after patients complained.
- The mysterious, Brutalist-style building that served as the film's "Jefferson Institute" was at the time of filming a regional headquarters of Xerox Corporation in Lexington, Massachusetts, and as of 2021 housed the offices of Mimecast.
- Tom Selleck was cast in the film for his appearances in Salem cigarette advertisements, which were what brought the actor to the production's attention.
- Coma cost $4.1 million to make, an outlay that was off-set by a pre-sale of the film to television worth $3 million.
