Misery by Stephen King

Jeannette Travell 0904470
Scriptwriting assignment (CW1102)
Evaluation of ‘Misery’
21/10/10
Tutor – Kass Boucher

Misery (1990)
The story of a successful writer left defenceless in the clutches of ‘his number one fan’ Annie Wilkes.
Plot Breakdown
  1. Paul Sheldon is a successful author. He is trying to redesign himself, escaping from the same series he has written for years.
  2. He leaves a Lodge in Colorado. He drives through a blizzard and his car slips and crashes into a ditch.
  3. Annie Wilkes, a local farmer and former nurse, finds him, and takes him to her cabin.
  4. He awakes two days later with his wounds tended to, by Annie, his ‘number one fan’. Annie promises to keep him healthy until the roads are open and the telephone lines working.
  5. Paul’s agent (Marcia Sindell), meanwhile, calls the Sheriff’s office in Silver Creek to enquire as to Paul’s whereabouts. The Sheriff promises to let her know if he finds anything.
  6.   Annie flies into a rage upon reading the profanity Paul has used in his latest manuscript.
  7. Annie comes to him in a fit of anger upon the realisation that he has killed off his main character Misery in his latest book in the series.
  8. Annie brings a barbecue into Paul’s room and orders Paul to burn the sole copy of his new manuscript.
  9. Annie buys Paul a typewriter, and tells him to write Misery to life.
  10. Annie and Paul share an evening meal, and whilst Annie is distracted Paul puts the powder from his stashed pain pills into her drink. However, she spills her glass over and his plan is foiled.
  11. Annie finds that Paul has been leaving his room, so she straps him to his bed and breaks his ankles with a sledgehammer.
  12. Paul sets fire to his new book ‘Misery’s return’.
  13. A wild fight begins, where Paul eventually kills Annie.

The protagonist in this film is Paul Sheldon, a famous writer. He always writes in The Silver Creek Lodge, in Colorado. The...