[6] Famed novelist Paul Sheldon is the author of a successful series of Victorian romance novels featuring a character named Misery Chastain.

Annie forces him to burn the only copy of his new manuscript, provides a typewriter, and orders him to write a new novel in which he brings Misery back to life.

He finds a scrapbook of newspaper clippings about her past and learns that she was tried for the deaths of several infants in the hospital where she worked; the trial collapsed due to lack of evidence.

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 bashes Annie in the face with a metal doorstop shaped like her pig Misery, finally killing her.

[7][8] 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.

Goldman subsequently wrote that this was the correct decision as the visual depiction of an amputation would cause the audience to hate Annie instead of sympathizing with her madness.

[11] Warren Beatty was interested in the role, wanting to turn him into a less passive character,[12] but eventually had to drop out as post-production of Dick Tracy extended.

[16] 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.

[2] 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.

[18] 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.

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.

I fell asleep on the plane and had a dream about a popular writer (it may or may not have been me, but it sure to God wasn't James Caan)...[27]In 2003, Annie Wilkes was ranked #17 on AFI's 100 Years...100 Heroes & Villains list.

[28] 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.