Misery
Short description
Paul Sheldon is a successful novelist who has grown tired of the romance series that made his name and has just written off its heroine, Misery Chastain, so he can move on to other work. Driving away from his usual Colorado retreat, he loses control of his car in a snowstorm and is pulled from the wreck by Annie Wilkes, a former nurse who lives alone and describes herself as his number one fan. She brings him home to recover, but the arrangement turns into captivity: Annie refuses to accept the death of her favourite character and makes him bring Misery back in a new manuscript written to her specifications, backed by violence.
Rob Reiner directed this adaptation of Stephen King's novel, the sixth of the nineteen features he has directed in chronological order, following When Harry Met Sally... and preceding A Few Good Men. William Goldman wrote the screenplay with King; Reiner and Andrew Scheinman produced. Kathy Bates plays Annie opposite James Caan as Paul, with Richard Farnsworth, Lauren Bacall, Frances Sternhagen and Graham Jarvis in supporting roles. Made for about 20 million dollars, it took roughly 61 million worldwide. On IMDb it holds 7.8 out of 10 from around 264,000 votes, and on TMDB 7.8 from over 5,400; a critics' rating of 7.5 from 152 reviews sits close to those audience scores.
What's left behind the scenes
- Director Rob Reiner appeared in the film in a cameo role as a helicopter pilot.
- The film is based on Stephen King's novel "Misery" (1987).
- In the original Stephen King novel, Paul Sheldon's new book is called "Fast Cars" (in the film it's "Untitled").
- Paul Sheldon's novels are published by Viking. This real publishing house at the time also published books by Stephen King himself.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- Also, one of the articles mentions the writer's blue car, while the film shows a black one.
- Warren Beatty was initially considered for the role of the writer, and Bette Midler was offered the role of Annie, but she declined.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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'.
- 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".
- Angelica Huston was considered for the female lead.
- 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.
- 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.
- In 1995, Kathy Bates starred again in a Stephen King adaptation titled "Dolores Claiborne".
- The violence permeating the film affected Kathy Bates, who, according to her co-star, often cried during filming.
- 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.
- 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.
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