Misery (film)
Misery is a 1990 American psychological horror thriller film directed by Rob Reiner from a screenplay by William Goldman. It is based on Stephen King's 1987 novel and stars James Caan as famed novelist Paul Sheldon, who is held captive by Annie Wilkes, an obsessive fan. The supporting cast includes Frances Sternhagen, Richard Farnsworth, and Lauren Bacall.
Development on an adaptation of King's novel began after producer Andrew Scheinman recommended it to Reiner, who recruited Goldman to write the film's screenplay. Casting for the film was extensive: several actors were considered for the roles of Sheldon and Wilkes before Caan and Bates were hired; Bates was a stage actress, mostly unknown to film audiences. Principal photography began in February 1990, with filming locations including Genoa, Nevada and Los Angeles. The film's score was composed by Marc Shaiman.
Misery was produced by Castle Rock Entertainment and Nelson Entertainment and was theatrically released in the United States on November 30, 1990, by Columbia Pictures. It grossed $61.3 million worldwide and received positive reviews from critics, with praise for the horror and performances of the leading duo. Bates's Academy Award for Best Actress win made Misery the only film based on a novel by King to win an Academy Award.
Plot
Famed novelist Paul Sheldon writes Victorian romance novels featuring a character named Misery Chastain. Though the books are profitable, Paul despises the series and wishes to focus on writing more serious literature. He has just left the cabin in Silver Creek, Colorado, where he completed a manuscript he hopes will launch his post-Misery career. En route to New York City, he is caught in a blizzard and crashes his Mustang over an embankment. Annie Wilkes finds him and brings him to her remote home.Paul awakens to find himself bedridden with broken legs and a dislocated shoulder. Annie, a nurse who claims to be his "number one fan", says she will care for him until telephone lines are reconnected and the local roads are cleared following the storm. Annie's disturbing behavior gradually emerges, culminating in her reading the latest Misery novel and discovering that Misery dies at the end. Flying into a rage, she reveals that she never informed anyone about Paul, and no one knows his whereabouts.
Annie forces Paul to burn the only copy of his new manuscript. She buys typing paper and an antique typewriter, then orders him to bring Misery back in a new book; Paul reluctantly complies. He later finds a bobby pin and, while Annie is away, uses it to unlock the bedroom door. While exploring the house in a wheelchair, Paul discovers that the phone is not working and that the outer doors cannot be opened without a key. He begins stockpiling his painkillers and tries to drug Annie, but she accidentally foils his plan. He later finds a scrapbook filled with newspaper clippings revealing that Annie was tried for several infant deaths at the hospital where she worked; the case lacked evidence, and the trial collapsed. Annie discovers that Paul escaped the room and breaks his ankles with a sledgehammer to hobble him.
Meanwhile, Sheriff Buster is investigating Paul's disappearance and follows clues to Annie's home. When he finds Paul drugged in the basement, Annie murders Buster with a shotgun; she intends to kill Paul in a murder–suicide, but he persuades her to let him finish the novel. While she fetches the wheelchair, he hides a can of lighter fluid inside his pants.
That night, Paul finishes the novel and sends Annie to the kitchen for celebratory champagne before dousing the manuscript with lighter fluid. When Annie returns, Paul holds up the final pages and taunts her about Misery's ending before lighting them on fire. As a horrified Annie pleads for him not to do this, Paul sets the manuscript on fire so Annie can never know Misery's fate; as she is distracted, he strikes her with the typewriter. With the manuscript destroyed, Annie becomes enraged and tries to kill Paul, but Paul fights back. They engage in a violent struggle, with Paul suffering a gunshot wound and Annie briefly getting knocked out when she falls head-first onto the typewriter. The struggle ends when Paul strikes Annie in the face with a heavy iron doorstop, killing her.
Eighteen months later, Paul, now walking with a cane, meets with his literary agent at a New York City restaurant. They discuss his first post-Misery novel, which has received critical acclaim and is expected to be a bestseller, and Paul admits that his ordeal helped revive his passion for writing. The agent asks him to consider a nonfiction book about his experience, but Paul declines. A waitress approaches, and he momentarily hallucinates that she is Annie, commenting that he still thinks about her once in a while. The waitress then says she is his number one fan, as Paul meekly replies, "That's very sweet of you."
Cast
- James Caan as Paul Sheldon
- Kathy Bates as Annie Wilkes
- Frances Sternhagen as Deputy Virginia
- Richard Farnsworth as Sheriff Buster
- Lauren Bacall as Marcia Sindell
- Graham Jarvis as Libby
- Jerry Potter as Pete
Production
Development
Producer Andrew Scheinman read Stephen King's novel Misery on an airplane, and later recommended it to his director partner at Castle Rock Entertainment, Rob Reiner. Reiner eventually invited writer William Goldman to write the screenplay for the film.In the novel, Annie Wilkes severs one of Paul Sheldon's feet with an ax. Goldman loved the scene and argued for its inclusion, but Reiner insisted it be changed so that she only breaks his ankles. Goldman subsequently wrote that this was the correct decision, as a visual depiction of an amputation would lead the audience to hate Annie rather than sympathize with her madness.
Casting
The part of Paul Sheldon was originally offered to William Hurt, then Kevin Kline, Michael Douglas, Harrison Ford, Dustin Hoffman, Robert De Niro, Al Pacino, Richard Dreyfuss, Gene Hackman, and Robert Redford, but they all turned it down. Warren Beatty was interested in the role, wanting to turn him into a less passive character, but eventually had to drop out as post-production of Dick Tracy extended. Eventually, someone suggested James Caan, who agreed to play the part. Caan commented that he was attracted to the fact that Sheldon was a role unlike any of his others, and that "being a totally reactionary character is really much tougher." Anjelica Huston and Bette Midler were both offered the role of Annie Wilkes, but both of them turned it down. Midler would later say that she deeply regretted this decision. According to Reiner, it was Goldman who suggested that Wilkes should be played by Kathy Bates, a stage actress who was effectively unknown to film audiences. Billy Bob Thornton auditioned for the role of Sheriff Buster's deputy and was offered it, but the part was cut from the film.Filming
Principal photography began in February 1990. Exterior scenes set in the town of Silver Creek were shot in Genoa, Nevada, while interiors were filmed at Hollywood Center Studios in Los Angeles.Music
The film's score was composed by Marc Shaiman. Three recordings by Liberace, Annie Wilkes's favorite musician, are featured in the film, as is "Shotgun" by Junior Walker and the All-Stars, which plays before Paul's car accident.Reception
Box office
Misery grossed $10,076,834 on its opening weekend, finishing second at the box office behind Home Alone. It eventually finished with $61 million domestically.Critical response
On review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, Misery has an approval rating of 87% based on 150 reviews. The site's critics consensus reads: "Elevated by standout performances from James Caan and Kathy Bates, this taut and frightening film is one of the best Stephen King adaptations to date." At Metacritic, which assigns a weighted mean rating to reviews, the film has a score of 75 out of 100, based on 23 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews". Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A−" on an A+ to F scale.Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times gave the film a rating of three stars out of four, stating that "it is a good story, a natural, and it grabs us." Variety called it "a very obvious and very commercial gothic thriller, a functional adaptation of the Stephen King bestseller." Derek Malcolm of The Guardian gave it a positive review, writing that it "plays enough tricks on us so that we don't ever treat anything quite seriously and Goldman's script has enough good lines and situations to keep one interested in exactly what is coming next", and praised the cast, especially Bates, writing that her "demented devotee in Misery is inspired casting." Vincent Canby of The New York Times praised Kathy Bates' performance, calling it "a genuinely funny performance as the mad Annie, as gaudily written in Mr. Goldman's screenplay as it is in Mr. King's novel."
King himself has stated that Misery is one of his top ten favorite film adaptations, in his 2009 collection Stephen King Goes to the Movies.
In 2003, Annie Wilkes was ranked #17 on AFI's 100 Years...100 Heroes & Villains list. The "hobbling" scene in the film, in which Annie breaks Paul's ankles with a sledgehammer, was ranked #12 on Bravo's 2004 program The 100 Scariest Movie Moments. In 2009, Chris Eggertsen of Bloody Disgusting ranked Misery fourth place in his list of "10 Claustrophobic Horror Films".
In 2014, WhatCulture ranked Kathy Bates' role first in top "10 Most Convincing Movie Psychopath Performances", Taste of Cinema ranked the film 7th among the "30 Great Psychopath Movies That Are Worth Your Time", and GamesRadar+ named Annie one of the "50 Creepiest Movie Psychopaths.