Misery

Misery (1990)

Timing: 1:47 (107 min)

7.745/10
5160

7.747/10
98073

7.8/10
264000

All about film

Video 17

Photo 106

Actors and characters

Release date

1990-11-30

Country

United States

Production

Columbia Pictures, Castle Rock Entertainment, Nelson Entertainment

Genre

Drama, Thriller

Budget

$20 000 000

Revenue

$61 276 872

Website

Director

Rob Reiner

Actors

Kathy Bates, James Caan, Richard Farnsworth, Lauren Bacall, Frances Sternhagen, Graham Jarvis, Jerry Potter, Thomas Brunelle, June Christopher, Julie Payne
All actors and roles (10)

Scenario

Producer

Rob Reiner, Andrew Scheinman

Operator

Barry Sonnenfeld

Composer

Marc Shaiman

Artist

Andrew Precht

Audition

Janet Hirshenson, Jane Jenkins

Editing

Robert Leighton
All team (78)

• The film is based on Stephen King's novel "Misery" (1987).
• Rob Reiner, the film's director, had previously worked with Stephen King's works, having directed the drama "Stand by Me" in 1986, based on the horror master's novella "The Body".
• Paul Sheldon's novels are published by "Viking." This real-life publishing house also published books by Stephen King at the time.
• Warren Beatty was initially considered for the role of the writer, and Bette Midler was offered the role of Annie, but she declined.
• In 1995, Kathy Bates starred again in a Stephen King adaptation titled "Dolores Claiborne".
• Jack Nicholson was considered for the lead role, but he wasn't sure he wanted to appear in another King film after Kubrick's "The Shining".
• Angelica Huston was considered for the female lead.
• Filming for this movie took place in the states of California and Nevada, as well as in major cities such as New York and Los Angeles.
• Director Rob Reiner appeared in the film in a cameo role as a helicopter pilot.
• Kathy Bates was disappointed to learn that the scene where she kills a young police officer with a lawnmower was cut. But the director feared the audience would laugh at it.
• In the film, Annie Wilkes hammers both of Paul Sheldon's legs, while in Stephen King's book she simply chops them off with an axe. This change to the original material was made at the director's request, although the screenwriter was strongly opposed to it.
• In the original Stephen King novel, Paul Sheldon's new book is called "Fast Cars" (in the film it's "Untitled").
• In the album Annie reads (minute 75 of the film), it’s visible that the articles are mostly made up of repeating paragraphs of text.
• Also, one of the articles mentions the writer's blue car, while the film shows a black one.
• Throughout all 15 weeks of filming, James Caan (who played Paul Sheldon) was bedridden. He later stated that he felt as if director Rob Reiner was simply mocking him.
• Once, James Caan showed up to the set hungover, and it turned out that everything shot that day was unusable. Rob Reiner told the actor that all the scenes would have to be reshot because something had happened to the film. When Caan found out that the film was not the problem, he offered to reimburse the studio for the cost of the reshoots.
• James Caan and Kathy Bates argued with each other due to their differing approaches to acting. Caan believed that you should rehearse as little as possible, while Bates, who came to cinema from the theater, believed that rehearsal was essential. When she complained to the director that Caan wasn't listening to her, Rob Reiner told her to play her anger and dissatisfaction in the scene.
• Initially, Stephen King didn't want to sell the rights to the adaptation of his 1987 novel, which served as the literary source for the screenplay, as he wasn't sure the adaptation would accurately convey the atmosphere of the work as he envisioned it. However, he was so impressed by the adaptation of his 1982 novella “The Body” – namely, Rob Reiner’s film “Stand by Me” (1986) – that he eventually sold the rights, but with the condition that Reiner would be either the director or producer of the future film.
• Warren Beatty was involved in working on the screenplay for a time. He helped come up with ways to prevent James Caan’s character from running away from Annie, played by Kathy Bates.
• James Caan’s prosthetic legs were made of gelatin. Metal rods were inserted into them, which bent at the appropriate angle when Annie struck the legs with a hammer. Holes were cut in the mattress where Caan hid his real legs.
• The actors and crew enjoyed working on the scene where James Caan's character escapes the house in search of a way to survive. According to one person present, they were all just a short distance from the house, but still, being anywhere outside the bedroom was a relief.
• According to director Rob Reiner, the character of Kathy Bates and her desire to kill reflected the image of Genene Jones, a nurse who killed approximately 60 children over two years.
• The violence permeating the film affected Kathy Bates, who, according to her co-star, often cried during filming.
• Paul Sheldon's novels are published by Viking. This real publishing house at the time also published books by Stephen King himself.
• Jack Nicholson was considered for the lead role, but he wasn't sure he wanted to star in another film based on a King story after Kubrick's 'The Shining'.