Kathy Bates Regrets The Toning Down Of The Violence in 'Misery'

As a writer, I have a giant place in my heart for Rob Reiner's Misery. I think it still is the best movie made about authorship, audiences, and relationships with fans. This Stephen King adaptation is such a good movie and such a taut, sometimes funny thriller. It's hard to imagine it any different. But apparently, it was much more violent at one point.If you haven't seen the movie, it's about an author, played by James Caan, who gets kidnapped by an obsessive fan, played by Kathy Bates, and forced to write a new book in his series that goes according to her wishes. At the 16th annual TCM Classic Film Festival last week, there was a 35th anniversary screening of Misery, which had director Rob Reiner and actress Kathy Bates in attendance. At the screening, Reiner explained the chemistry between Caan and Bates came despite being such different actors. Reiner said, “They come at acting in very different ways. Kathy is a brilliant stage actress, and Jimmy didn’t want any rehearsal; he just wanted to be instinctive. So we found a way to rehearse more than Jimmy wanted and less than Kathy wanted, but it works.”Bates regaled the audience with her regrets that Reiner cut out a lot of King's gore from the novel, which involved her character killing someone with a lawnmower, and changed her actually amputating Caan's character's foot to just breaking his ankle. She said of the foot cutting, “I was crushed that you took that out.” Reiner defended himself by saying Caan's arc shouldn't involve him losing more after he already understood and learned his lesson. “I didn’t agree with that at all,” Bates said.This playful banter is so fun. But to Reiner's credit, he understood the movie he was making at the time. And what the tone and genre dictated. For what it's worth, Bates wound up going on to win an Oscar for her role. And the movie was a giant hit. It's hard to imagine a version of the movie that's more violent or gross, because right now it has the perfect amount of tension and plausibility all rolled into one. Let me know what you think in the comments.

Apr 30, 2025 - 19:31

Kathy Bates Regrets The Toning Down Of The Violence in 'Misery'

As a writer, I have a giant place in my heart for Rob Reiner's Misery. I think it still is the best movie made about authorship, audiences, and relationships with fans.

This Stephen King adaptation is such a good movie and such a taut, sometimes funny thriller. It's hard to imagine it any different.

But apparently, it was much more violent at one point.

If you haven't seen the movie, it's about an author, played by James Caan, who gets kidnapped by an obsessive fan, played by Kathy Bates, and forced to write a new book in his series that goes according to her wishes.

At the 16th annual TCM Classic Film Festival last week, there was a 35th anniversary screening of Misery, which had director Rob Reiner and actress Kathy Bates in attendance.

At the screening, Reiner explained the chemistry between Caan and Bates came despite being such different actors.

Reiner said, “They come at acting in very different ways. Kathy is a brilliant stage actress, and Jimmy didn’t want any rehearsal; he just wanted to be instinctive. So we found a way to rehearse more than Jimmy wanted and less than Kathy wanted, but it works.”

Bates regaled the audience with her regrets that Reiner cut out a lot of King's gore from the novel, which involved her character killing someone with a lawnmower, and changed her actually amputating Caan's character's foot to just breaking his ankle.

She said of the foot cutting, “I was crushed that you took that out.”

Reiner defended himself by saying Caan's arc shouldn't involve him losing more after he already understood and learned his lesson.

“I didn’t agree with that at all,” Bates said.

This playful banter is so fun.

But to Reiner's credit, he understood the movie he was making at the time. And what the tone and genre dictated.

For what it's worth, Bates wound up going on to win an Oscar for her role. And the movie was a giant hit.

It's hard to imagine a version of the movie that's more violent or gross, because right now it has the perfect amount of tension and plausibility all rolled into one.

Let me know what you think in the comments.