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On one fateful day in the late 1980s, producer Andrew Scheinman found himself in an airport with time to kill and the need to find reading material for an upcoming flight. Perusing the bookshelves in one of the shops, he came upon a hardcover copy of Misery by Stephen King. It was a title that stuck out if not at least in part because Scheinman had just recently had a hand in making Rob Reiner’s Stand By Me – an adaptation of King’s novella “The Body” that wound up being a massive critical and box office success. The filmmaker purchased the novel, and he dove head first into the brilliantly tense tale of author Paul Sheldon and his #1 Fan/psychotic captor, Annie Wilkes.
By the time Scheinman finished the relatively short book, he knew that he wanted to turn it into a movie – and he was surprised to discover that the rights had not been optioned. The reason for this, however, was because of Stephen King. The writer felt an immensely personal connection to the work, and it wasn’t one that he was willing to simply put into the hands of the highest bidder. If Misery was going to be made into a film, he was going to make sure that it was going to be the best film it could possibly be.