VIDEO FLASHBACK: MISERY Begins Broadway Previews! Will You Be Its Number One Fan?
By: Michael Dale Oct. 22, 2015
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It's been 25 years since William Goldman's screen adaptation of Stephen King's 1987 novel Misery hit the big screen and turned the words "I'm your number one fan" into a chilling threat.
Directed by Rob Reiner, the film starred James Caan as novelist Paul Sheldon, seriously injured in a snowy car crash in a remote area of Colorado, and Kathy Bates as former nurse Annie Wilkes, who rescues Paul and takes him to her mountain cabin to recover.
Claiming to be his number one fan, Annie is horrified to discover that Paul has let her favorite character from his romance series die in his latest book, and takes psychopathic revenge on the helpless writer.
Kathy Bates earned the 1991 Academy Award for Best Actress for her performance as Annie.
Goldman's stage adaptation of MISERY premiered in 2012 at Pennsylvania's Bucks County Playhouse in a production directed by Will Frears that starred Daniel Gerroll and Tony nominee Johanna Day.
Now MISERY comes to Broadway, again directed by Frears but this time starring Bruce Willis and Laurie Metcalf.
An original member of Chicago's Steppenwolf Theatre Company, Metcalf won Obie and Theatre World Awards for her 1984 Off-Broadway debut in BALM IN GILEAD, and sprung into national stardom eight years later, winning three Emmy Awards for playing Jackie, the sister of Roseanne Barr's title character in the hit series ROSEANNE.
Bruce Willis, best known for the action-movie series DIE HARD, makes his Broadway debut in MISERY. America first discovered him in 1985, bantering with Cybill Shepherd on the hit TV series, MOONLIGHTLING.
His character liked to sing a lot. Maybe when he's done with MISERY he can take a crack at CHICAGO's Billy Flynn.
Broadway's new suspense thriller Misery, starring two-time Emmy Award winner and Golden Globe Award winner Bruce Willis and three-time Emmy Award winner Laurie Metcalf and written by two-time Academy Award winner William Goldman, begins performances tonight, October 22, 2015, at Broadway's Broadhurst Theatre (235 W 44th Street), and officially opens on Sunday, November 15, 2015, in a strictly limited 16-week engagement.
Successful romance novelist Paul Sheldon (Bruce Willis) is rescued from a car crash by his "Number One Fan," Annie Wilkes (Laurie Metcalf), and wakes up captive in her secluded home. While Paul is convalescing, Annie reads the manuscript to his newest novel and becomes enraged when she discovers the author has killed off her favorite character, Misery Chastain. Annie forces Paul to write a new "Misery" novel, and he quickly realizes Annie has no intention of letting him go anywhere. The irate Annie has Paul writing as if his life depends on it, and if he does not make her deadline, it will.
MISERY has scenic design by David Korins (Hamilton), costume design by Academy Award and Tony Award winnerAnn Roth (The Book of Mormon), lighting design by David Weiner (The Normal Heart), sound design by Tony Award winner Darron L. West (Peter and the Starcatcher), and casting by Telsey + Company/William Cantler, CSA.
William Goldman's film adaptation of Misery, based on Stephen King's celebrated novel, was directed by Rob Reinerand released in 1990, starring James Caan and Kathy Bates, who won an Academy Award and Golden Globe Award for her performance as Annie Wilkes.
MISERY made its world premiere at Bucks County Playhouse in the fall of 2012.
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