Random Behind Scenes Of Annie Wilkes Hobbling Paul Sheldon In 'Misery' (12 items)

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  (#10) The Effects Team Made Sure The Fake Leg Looked Real

  There's nothing quite like watching a man have his ankles shattered by a sledgehammer, and it took an astounding amount of work to make that happen on screen. A visual effects team was hired to do much of the makeup and special effects for the movie, including the fateful hammer scene.

  To make the scene seem as real as possible, the team made a gelatin mold of Caan's legs and created a wire skeleton to put underneath. The wire allowed the gelatin legs to bend in an unusual manner while still holding form after they were hit. 
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  (#3) Screenwriter William Goldman Signed On To The Project Because Of The Scene

  While most people seemed to be rather squeamish about the ax sequence, screenwriter William Goldman found it exciting. In Goldman's book Which Lie Did I Tell? More Adventures in the Screen Trade, he describes how the scene was a total mindblower for him: "I could not f-ing believe it. I mean, I knew she wasn’t going to tickle him with a peacock feather, but I never dreamt such behavior was possible. And I knew I had to write the movie."

  He states that this particularly scene is what hooked him on the project and convinced him to adapt the story. 
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  (#4) Bette Midler Turned Down The Role Of Annie Because She Didn't Want To Perform The Scene

  While Kathy Bates manages to make disfiguring people look easy, not every potential actor had the stomach for the role. Bette Midler was offered a chance at the part, but she turned down the project because of this particular scene. In her own words, Midler said, "And Misery, I turned that down because I didn't want to saw someone's foot off, even though the role won an Oscar. It was stupid to say no to those pictures."

  Midler is referring to how the scene originally went in the book, but she has a point either way. It's hard to blame her for not wanting to viciously deform someone. While Midler would have certainly had a unique take on the character of Annie Wilkes, the stony severity of Bates perfectly suits Annie. 
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  (#6) A Ton Of High-Profile Actors Turned Down The Role Of Paul Sheldon

  It wasn't just Warren Beatty who turned down the chance to play Paul Sheldon. The filmmakers reached out to a number of high-profile actors, the majority of whom turned the film down outright. The list included names like Robert De Niro, Harrison Ford, Dustin Hoffman, Al Pacino, Kevin Kline, Robert Redford, William Hurt, Michael Douglas, and Richard Dreyfuss.

  The role ultimately went to James Caan, and it helped revitalize his career. He had gone through an extremely rough period through the 1980s, and many believed his career was beyond salvation. That's likely why he was not as picky as other actors when it came to accepting the role of Paul Sheldon. He still had some choice words about the character, but the role did a lot to rehabilitate his career. 
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  (#7) Director Rob Reiner Ultimately Rewrote The Scene To Satisfy The Other Producers

  With so much backlash toward the foot-severing scene before production even started, Reiner felt like there was no choice but to rewrite the scene. He and producer Andrew Scheinman decided to take a crack at the scene. Reiner explained his reasoning in the DVD commentary for the film:

  We wanted Paul Sheldon at the end of this movie to emerge victorious over Annie Wilkes, and if he wound up without a foot, even if he winds up beating her and she [perishes], then he maybe paid too high a price for that. Most of the people who have seen this movie say it was pretty darn painful to look at, so I don’t think we compromised it too much.
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  (#1) Annie Does More Than Hobble Paul In The Novel

  While Misery is a generally faithful adaptation of Stephen King's novel, there are actually some pretty huge differences between the film and the book when it comes to the most iconic scene.

  In the movie, Annie uses a sledgehammer to brutally mangle Paul's legs. While that's pretty scarring already, the book takes the horror even further. In that version, Annie actually uses a fire ax to sever both of Paul's legs at the ankle. That's not all - she then grabs a blowtorch and cauterizes the wounds herself. 

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