Misery (film)

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Movie
German title Misery
Original title Misery
Country of production United States
original language English
Publishing year 1990
length 103 minutes
Age rating FSK 16
Rod
Director Rob Reiner
script William Goldman
production Rob Reiner
Andrew Scheinman
music Marc Shaiman
camera Barry Sonnenfeld
cut Robert Leighton
occupation

Misery is an American film adaptation of Stephen King -Romans you from the year 1990 . Directed by Rob Reiner ; the script was written by William Goldman . The leading roles are played by James Caan and Kathy Bates .

action

Paul Sheldon, a successful novelist, finishes his latest book in a remote cabin in the mountains in Clear Creek County, Colorado . He is best known as the author of the Misery saga. When the novel is finished, he makes his way home to New York City with the manuscript . Because of a snow storm, he goes off the road and is seriously injured. A woman named Annie Wilkes rescues Paul from the wrecked car and takes him in at her home, where she lives in seclusion with a pig named Misery. The former nurse introduces herself as "his biggest fan". Since the blizzard has broken all contact with the outside world, she tries to nurse him back to health herself.

As a thank you, Paul lets her take a look at the manuscript of his new book, which inspires her. But she is appalled by the vulgar language of the protagonists. After Annie initially appeared amiable and quirky, Sheldon quickly gets to know her other side: Annie suddenly has tantrums and tells the horrified Sheldon that she has not informed anyone about him and that he is helplessly at her mercy. She forces him to burn his manuscript, knowing Paul's superstition never to make copies of his original manuscripts. When she reads the last book in the Misery series, in which Paul lets the heroine die, she aggressively confronts him. Realizing that no further Misery novel is planned, Annie takes out her anger on Paul, who is tied to the bed by her, and forces him to continue the Misery saga.

Paul can now at least move around the room using a wheelchair. Annie locks the door to his room. However, Paul manages to open the door by means of a hair clip that happened to be on the floor. In addition to extensive drug supplies, he discovers evidence of the murders of her father, a student nurse and a pediatrician. Annie was used as the nurse's head nurse and later arrested for deaths involving babies. Paul steals a knife to be prepared for the worst. Despite his caution, Annie discovers his intentions and breaks his feet with a sledgehammer to prevent him from attempting further escape.

Meanwhile, the sheriff has also become suspicious, finds Annie's biography in the media and, after finding Paul in her basement, is shot by Annie. When Annie tells Paul that she wants to kill herself with him, he asks for some time to complete the novel for posterity. Then he wanted to celebrate the event with her before they both commit suicide together. When the time comes, Paul burns the forced manuscript and kills Annie in a fierce fight.

18 months later, Paul Sheldon can be seen in New York . He can walk again, albeit with a limp. He meets with his publisher Marcia in the restaurant and turns down a factual novel about his terrible experiences with Annie Wilkes: "I'm supposed to dig out the worst horror of my life just so we can make a few bucks?" He tells her that sometimes he still believes To recognize Annie in other people even though he knows she is dead. This also happens when a waitress shows up telling him that she is his biggest fan. Based on his experience, Sheldon can only acknowledge this with a tortured smile.

Emergence

Stephen King's novel It was published in 1987. Like most King books, it was a huge hit and Hollywood tore over it. However, since King was happy with the fewest film adaptations of his novels, he withheld the film rights for the time being. It was only when Rob Reiner called him that King entered into negotiations. Reiner had previously filmed Die Leiche (as Stand by Me - The Secret of a Summer ), one of the few film adaptations of King's novels that King liked. He sold the film rights to Castle Rock Entertainment on the condition that Rob Reiner either produce or direct.

To adapt the novel into a script, Reiner turned to William Goldman , who accepted the commission. It was the following scene (Goldman called it the "butcher scene") that ultimately drove him to accept the assignment: Annie Wilkes severed the leg of her victim Paul Sheldon with an ax and seared the wound with a propane gas burner . Goldman knew that he was faced with the possibility of being partly responsible for a scene that would be engraved in the minds of the audience and could make film history . He spent the next six months with Rob Reiner and his business partner Andy Scheinman working on various script drafts. Then the search for a suitable director began. The choice fell on George Roy Hill , who first agreed, but then canceled due to concerns about the said scene. Rob Reiner took on the task himself. George Roy Hill's objections raised questions, however. An in-house survey was supposed to clarify whether the “butcher scene” was actually too tough. Indeed, most employees advised against it.

Casting for the film began while the script was still being written. William Goldman wrote the role of Annie for Kathy Bates . He knew her from a number of plays and admired her for her talent. Rob Reiner, who had seen her on Broadway , hired her straight away.

The casting for Paul Sheldon was a lot more difficult because such a role is not very attractive for Hollywood stars. Paul Sheldon is tied to the bed and delivered to a woman for most of the film. The list of stars to whom the role has been brought up is long: William Hurt , Kevin Kline , Michael Douglas , Harrison Ford , Dustin Hoffman , Robert De Niro , Al Pacino , Gene Hackman and Robert Redford all canceled. Warren Beatty showed keen interest but, like Roy Hill, had concerns about the brutality. And although Goldman was convinced it had to stay the same, Scheinman and Reiner removed the controversial scene. Goldman was angry but powerless. Beatty still didn't take on the role. He preferred to devote himself to his own Dick Tracy project . The story has been changed so that Annie smashes her victim's ankles with a sledgehammer .

Richard Dreyfuss accepted without reading the script. In 1989 he turned down Reiner's offer to star in Harry and Sally . He didn't want to make such a mistake a second time. After Rob Reiner had sent him the script, he too withdrew his offer. Ultimately, the choice fell on James Caan , who at that time had not been successful for a long time and was known for his drug problems.

Shooting and Success

Filming began in January 1990 and lasted until May 31. Reiner shot the film in chronological order. The film was released in US cinemas on November 30, 1990. After William Goldman saw the finished film, he changed his mind about the "butcher scene". Like Stephen King, he was delighted with the end result.

With a budget of about $ 20 million, the film grossed $ 61 million from its US theatrical release alone and became one of Castle Rock's biggest hits .

Trivia

  • In the animated series Family Guy , the film is parodied in the episode Three Times King (S8E15).
  • In the cartoon series Drawn Together , the scene in which Sheldon's ankles are broken with a sledgehammer is parodied by Clara and Wollball Sockenbart in the episode Unrestrainable Trainable .
  • From the stop-motion series Robot Chicken , a sequence of the film with the (animated) peanuts was recreated in episode 10 of season 3.

Reviews

source rating
Rotten tomatoes
critic
audience
IMDb
  • Stephen King himself says in his book Life and Writing that he wanted every other leading actor than James Caan in the person of Sheldon.
  • epd Film 5/1991 wrote: “You can see from the film that Reiner didn't feel comfortable with this horror material. His staging cannot really decide whether to accentuate or defuse the psychological cruelty and physical brutality of the scenario. For the horror, Reiner only finds the conventional cinematic equivalents, he emphasizes the claustrophobia of the situation primarily through extreme wide angles, through views from below and tilted perspectives - as if he wanted to play it safe. The qualities of the film are based more on the intelligent and complex construction of the plot by Goldman, who always continues the story through writing. "
  • In film-dienst 8/1991 it was read: "The duel, based on a Stephen King model, was implemented in a cinematic suggestive manner and with a lot of gallows humor, but requires a willingness to accept the absurd basic constellation."
  • On treffpunkt-kritik.de one drew the conclusion: "Misery is a remarkable and extremely exciting thriller with an excellent cast, which can certainly be measured against the novel and [...] is one of the best Stephen King films ever."
  • filmstarts.de was of the opinion that Rob Reiner had “some very exciting moments and thrills in store, and that the showdown didn't leave much to be desired either. All in all a solid, if not earth-shattering production ”.
  • For kino.de , the film presented itself as a “perfect mixture of classic suspense à la Hitchcock and merciless modern horror”.

Awards

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Misery at echolog.de. Retrieved September 6, 2016.
  2. ↑ a b c d e f Peter Shelley: Grande Dame Guignol Cinema: A History of Hag Horror from Baby Jane to Mother , pp. 280 ff., McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers ISBN 978-0-7864-4569-1
  3. ↑ A man of the word In: Die Welt . Retrieved September 6, 2016.
  4. ^ William Goldman: Which Lie Did I Tell ?: More Adventures in the Screen Trade , Knopf Doubleday, Publishing Group. 2001 - Misery 1990 ISBN 978-0-7475-5317-5
  5. ↑ a b c Misery Trivia in the IMDb (English)
  6. ↑ a b Misery at Rotten Tomatoes , accessed February 12, 2015
  7. ↑ Misery in the Internet Movie Database (English)
  8. ↑ see also Misery. In: Lexicon of International Films . Film service , accessed July 1, 2017 .Template: LdiF / Maintenance / Access used 
  9. ↑ Misery at treffpunkt-kritik.de
  10. ↑ Misery at filmstarts.de. Retrieved September 6, 2016.
  11. ↑ Misery at kino.de. Retrieved September 6, 2016.
Films and TV series based on works by Stephen King are based
Movies

Carrie - Des Satan's Youngest Daughter (1976) • Burning Must Salem (1979) • Shining (1980) • Cujo (1983) • Dead Zone (1983) • Christine (1983) • Children of Wrath (1984) • The Fire Devil (1984) • Devil's Gift (1984) • Werewolf from Tarker Mills (1985) • Cat's Eye (1985) • Stand by Me - The Secret of a Summer (1986) • Rhea M - It Started Without Warning (1986) • Running Man (1987) • Stuffed Animal Cemetery (1989) • Tales from the Shadow World (1990) • Night Shift (1990) • Misery (1990) • Stephen King's It (1990) • Sometimes They Come Back (1991) • Stuffed Animal Cemetery II ( 1992) • Children of Wrath 2 - Deadly Harvest (1992) • The Lawnmower Man (1992) • Sleepwalker (1992) • Tommyknockers (1993) • Stephen Kings Stark (1993) • In a Small Town (1993) • The Condemned (1994) • Stephen King's The Stand (1994) • Children of Wrath 3 - The Chicago Massacre (1995) • The Langoliers (1995) • Dolores (1995) • The Mangler (199 5) • Thinner (1996) • Children of Wrath IV - Murderous Cult (1996) • Sometimes They Come Again II (1996) • Stephen King's Quicksilver Highway (1997) • Trucks - Out of Control (1997) • Quicksilver Highway (1997) • The Shining (1997) • Stephen King's The Night Flier (1997) • The Model Student (1998) • Children of Wrath 5 - Field of Terror (1998) • Children of Wrath 6 - Isaac's Return (1999) • The Storm of the Century (1999) • The Green Mile (1999) • The Mangler 2 (2001) • Hearts in Atlantis (2001) • Children of the Corn: Revelation (2001) • Fire Devil - The Return (2002) • Carrie (2002) • Stephen King's House of Doom (2002) • Dreamcatcher (2003) • Salem's Lot - Burning Must Salem (2004) • The Secret Window (2004) • Riding the Bullet (2004) • Desperation (2006) • Room 1408 (2007) • The Nebel (2007) • Dolan's Cadillac (2009) • Children of the Corn (2009) • Everything's Eventual (2009) • Children of Anger: Genesis - The Beginning (2011) • Willa (2013) • Carrie (2013) • Stephen King's a Good Marriage (2014) • Mercy - The Devil Knows No Mercy (2014) • Big Driver (2014) • Willa (short film) (2015) • Pulse (2016) • The Dark Tower (2017) • 1922 (2017 ) • The Game (2017) • It (2017) • The Doctor's Case (2018) • Mute (2018) • Cemetery of Stuffed Animals (2019) • It Chapter 2 (2019) • In the Tall Grass (2019) • Doctor Sleeps Awakening ( 2019)

TV Shows

Kingdom Hospital (2004) • Salem's Lot (2004) • Stephen King's Nightmares (2006) • Haven (2010–2015) • Stephen King's Bag of Bones (2011) • Under the Dome (2013–2015) • 11.22. 63 - The Attack (2016) • The Fog (2017) • Mr. Mercedes (2017) • Castle Rock (2018)