Misery - How Kathy Bates Perfected Annie Wilkes

[@henrywallacesghost5883]

What makes Bates so good is that she can appear warm and motherly but aggressive and intense as well. She can go zero to hundred in a second

[@Jack-ke5uv]

I know people who demonstrate those traits at work!!

[@rujekonyamande469]

Absolutely 💯

[@NYsBestArachnid-BasedProtector]

Kathy Bates' performance as Annie Wilkes made me wary of anyone who idolizes other people in general.

[@Δ-Δ-Δ-Δ]

Taylor Swift, Melanie Martinez and Lady Gaga's fans raise your hands.

[@fromlissawithlove]

Deleted my original response out of fear… That’s the world we live in 😒 No wonder I’ve been cynical since the 90’s. I knew then Earth was ghetto af 😂

[@PowuhToSeven]

​@@fromlissawithlovebecause of a movie? Y'all think movies are real? Where is the article where this really happened?

[@Itcouldbebunnies]

​@@PowuhToSeven John Lennon, Selena, Rebecca Schaeffer, Christina Grimmie, and Dimebag Darrell are just a few victims of their own fans. Many famous people have also been harassed, stalked and attacked by fans. In fact, it doesn't have to be famous people even. There are numerous stories of normal people being taken, locked up, hurt, and unalived by people who were obsessed with them. If you think this stuff isn't as common as sunrise you're mental. Or 12, in which case I apologize for calling you mental and urge you to find a more age-appropriate video to watch.

[@NYsBestArachnid-BasedProtector]

@PowuhToSeven To add on to the response you got, "Misery" is loosely based on some of the fan reactions and encounters Stephen King himself had to endure and the lead protagonist is pretty much a stand-in for King. There's a reason this movie had so much inspiration around the topic of toxic fandom.

[@jonesy279]

Kathy Bates is literally perfect in this role. I’m so glad she was appropriately recognised with an Oscar.

[@veggiesarefruits]

Sir Anthony Hopkins said in an interview with legendary journalist Dick Cavett, while discussing his performance as Hannibal Lecter, that the single greatest portrayal of a mad person he'd ever seen was by Kathy Bates as Annie Wilkes in 'Misery'.

[@CJ-ft9yo]

He also said the most menacing, disturbing way to play a mad person is that they are super sane

[@AlphaConviction]

He's right

[@cadillacdeville5828]

No one else could have ever played her... Perfect embodiment😊.

[@neon___am]

One of the most intense and stunning performances committed to the silver screen. The wild fluctuations between bliss and injured wrath is beautiful, it’s a work of art.

[@pjesf]

Her performance here was absolutely EXQUISITE 👍🏻👍🏻

[@I_LIKE_TATERZ]

One of those movies I saw as a kid that just stuck with me. The sledgehammer thing really got me.

[@nuberiffic]

In the book, she cuts off his foot with an axe, then cauterises the wound with a blowtorch. I read it when I was 11. Stuck with me too haha

[@dollinterrupted]

@@nuberiffichahaha I read it when I was 10 ❤

[@nihilismistheonlyway4680]

This is an excellent analysis! Love misery the movie AND the book. Kathy Bates is one of the most talented actresses ever

[@ginao6810]

All I can think of now is Martha in Baby Reindeer. Annie is like her spiritual grandmother

[@Shiversroses1313]

Kathy Bates is an incredible actor. This movie is the perfect example of that . Kathy Bates made me fear Annie Wilkes; and in that I say what a damn fine job!

[@HauntFormer]

One of the best performaces ever put to screen. One of my favorite films.

[@justhearmeout]

She is an American treasure to be protected at all costs. I've met her once.. tiny in person big on stage and very nice. Goldblum and Hoffman also give distinct performances, with their pauses, stutters, and loss for words. Makes the entire script... human. Great video and observations.

[@brendanobrien8693]

Life lessons from Misery: Be very wary of people who don't swear.

[@josebro352]

Fun fact: Swearing is a sign of intelligence.

[@Jray181818]

Cockadoodie CAR!

[@danieldalton6544]

And wear crosses around their necks, lol.

[@danieldalton6544]

@@Jray181818Dirty birdie, lol.

[@bruh_hahaha]

One of the most iconic best actress Oscar wins ever.

[@mcraig1969]

Ms. Bates' performance in Misery catapulted her to one of the greatest actresses of our time! Everything she does is GOLD! I am loving her in the new "Matlock". She has such a wide range from a pyscho, a bored Southern housewife, Fried Green Tomatoes" to the odd American Horror Story characters! Kathy, I'm your #1 fan...LOL

[@thallus23]

The fight scene at the end was cathartic 👊💪

[@Zenobiadream]

Kathy Bates mastered her craft of acting to perfection. Probably one of the best actresses of her generation

[@danieldalton6544]

💯 up there with Streep and Lange.

[@Sonia_Sarra]

​@@danieldalton6544 ❤

[@Shlogger]

She's scary af in the book too but she's also a lot more gross and psychotic. Bates humanized her a little more which actually kinds made her scarier somehow. Great performance. James Caan did a good job too.

[@SaurianStudios1207]

Recently rewatched the movie not too long ago (I would love to read the book by Stephen King), and I was completely pulled into how Kathy Bates can be so seamlessly terrifying and unashamedly kind, nursely, and enthusiastic. Her character's obsession with Misery, Paul, and being a huge fangirl borders on fanatical, basically any celebrity's worst nightmare, and anyone's worst nightmare who has to live with a woman like her, who is both obsessive and sinister, kind and abrasive, nurturing and in total control of Paul.

[@danieldalton6544]

In the book, what she does to his feet is even more horrific, don’t think audiences could have handled it.

[@Michalis2m]

I was 20 when this came out and i watched it with a friend, i remember we caught the late night screening, went back to my dormitory (i was a student) and went to sleep with the lights on, needless to say it took me a while…

[@danieldalton6544]

I was 16 saw it at the theatre with my mom and we both loved it. Then I read the book and loved IT. In the book, what she does to his feet is even more horrific. I don’t think audiences could have handled it.

[@Aznemma666]

Looooved this one!! Your choices of what to analyse are always 11/10!!!!

[@VelvetVoice]

So, by that logic, Rob Reiner's 'This is Spinal Tap' seems like a shoe-in for analysis at some stage, then...? 🙂

[@quatie]

I've watched this so many times over the years and I'm still on the edge of my seat.

[@winterbalm]

I am Kathy Bates’ number 1 fan

[@lchapo5469]

😳

[@melissamoonchild9216]

lol

[@TwilightLimits-sk7kn]

it is a great performance. You hit the nail on the head, most characters in movies look and react like they are reading out of a script/memory and don't act realistically

[@every1hasaproblem]

What a marvelous performance!

[@rhonnichan]

One of my favorite Stephen King books and movies. Kathy Bates did her big one in this movie. Truly gave me the creeps being Annie and brought the character alive

[@sweetiedahling8137]

I enjoyed the book but I love the movie because of Kathy Bates. If only people talked about this performance as much as Hannibal Lector

[@missnellie33]

YES!

[@Da_bear-ij9gm]

Tbh her performance is superior by far

[@danieldalton6544]

Yeah, since Hopkins himself supposedly said her performance of mad was best.

[@kc6401]

never knew about this movie just watched it it was amazing thanks !

[@TeeJay-er1nk]

You so poignantly and elegantly describe her character. Thank you for this video.

[@coleylovesshrek]

No one does crazy like Kathy Bates. No one. This movie made me love her. She is amazing. Hands down my absolute favorite movie ever.

[@danieldalton6544]

Yeah, just like no one does depression/mental illness better than Jessica Lange or play drunk better than Linda Gray.

[@dieselgav]

Kathy Bates was phenomenal in this film. Nuanced and totally believable. One of my all time favourite performances ever on film. In fact, I'm going to watch it tonight. 😂

[@alexandra-ru3ls]

First I read the book and then looked to find the movie. An excellent book but the movie was beyond my expectations. She played the role perfectly. A silent "loving" psychopath.

[@d3vilman69]

For me, the star of the movie is Kathy Bates, not James Caan. She may not be the most beautiful actress with great body in hollywood, but damn her acting is impeccable! Definitely deserves an oscar!

[@The_Joestar]

Bates looks ordinary. Which for me is a great asset for an actor/actress. Makes me relate to them much more easily

[@zorrosdog6557]

I'm glad they didn't pick a super hot actress.

[@davidfairweather3301]

I think the point was for Kathy to be the main star. Apparently when they were auditioning for the role of Paul, some actors turned it down due to the fact that they would spend most of the movie laid down which can be quite limiting for some actors and knew they would be overshadowed by their counterpart. I think James cann did a magnificent job

[@d3vilman69]

@@davidfairweather3301 I agree. But it is fascinating that James Cann who played a hot-tempered mafia in Godfather can suddenly be under a woman's mercy in Misery. Imagine Paul having Sonny's personality in Misery, probably the movie will end in 30min with Kathy beaten to a pulp >

[@ariannamyrie9520]

Kathy is the best cool older aunt!! I love her, so incredibly talented ❤❤❤❤❤

[@nickymo]

My go to way to describe feeling cheated by a story is “he didn’t get out of the cockadoody car!!”

[@elishabacon2299]

I felt all oogie when she said that!

[@bluestrife28]

Thanks for helping me love this portrayal even more. Nobody, but nobody could’ve played this role like Kathy. She totally nailed the obvious abuse survivor who lost their mind and humanity but still was a little damaged insane child inside. Eating puffs in bed watching tv like a kid then breaking some bones and throwing sheriff’s down stairs. She still chills me to this day and I STILL think often when I pay stuff “here’s one big BASTARD of a check for ya!’ 😂😂😂❤️❤️❤️

[@Δ-Δ-Δ-Δ]

You've got to analyse Rosamund Pike's performance as Amy Dunne in Gone Girl. That was so out of this world.

[@thedudeabides3138]

One of the best KZbin channels produces yet another brilliant essays. Thank you for your hard work.

[@Iron-Van]

good lord man, with all the movie break down type tings I watch, how did your channel not come up sooner on my recommendations until today? Another good one sir.

[@uphillracer]

i love kathy bates a lot

[@shikishinobi]

I wish I had this in High School, as Misery was one of the movies we studied. Between Misery and Psycho (the other film we did), I have learned not to trust a person named abates. This has been a great insight into the character, and takes a broader perspective than I did for my essay on Annie. I broke her down into 3 parts; the innocent child who is happy, bubbly and a bit of a bumpkin at times. Then there is the level headed Annie who has more serious conversations but from a twisted perspective; examples being her burning the book, when she ties Paul to the bed or when she discusses his first attempt at Misery’s Return. This is a more fragile state since it can lead her to her manic side, such as her snapping about the movies, swearing in books and so on. All three are driven to achieve an ending with Paul. I don’t think she initially planned her suicide pact until much later in the event of things, but she had a forever with Paul in mind somewhere. I love your work here and it certainly made the grade.

[@charliecheadle9154]

I could listen to your videos for hours. I’m so glad I’ve started regularly watching them a couple weeks ago! Thanks for posting and don’t stop doing what you’re doing!

[@JessAlves6832]

It was all meant to happen! This is one the most deserved academy award wins. Kathy Bates is riveting and unhinged, in one of finest movie performances ever. Undoubtedly, it's one of those times when the academy members got it one hundred percent correct!

[@Snakesnarl]

Misery is one of the first things I remember watching when we first got cable tv

[@Jack-ke5uv]

I'm glad I got see it on the big movie theatre screen first before it was reduced to a cable TV item on the menu. Annie Wilkes on the big screen was indeed a force to feared.

[@joejoe9435]

how can you not love this actress

[@thenaturalexplorer7385]

This is such an amazing video. Well done! Great observations and insight.

[@stanronn]

Brilliant as always!

[@bergeandtom]

One of my all-time favorite movies.

[@randycunningham7318]

One of his best adaptations.

[@shortycareface9678]

This movie completely stunned me when I finally got around to it last year... genuinely one of those movies I can't see myself revisiting, because of how extremely uncomfortable of a viewing it was. Loved it, but just don't think I can sit through it again, if that makes sense

[@michaelmcinerney1425]

Love your vids, keep up the good work!

[@melissamoonchild9216]

She is a force in this film. Shes an incredible actress

[@stuartshearer1412]

Brilliant vid, as always. Thanks, JaO.

[@myvirtualpresencefyi]

An analysis worthy of the performance.

[@Zero_Point_Energy1]

My boss when this movie came out was so incredibly similar in looks and personality to Annie Wilkes it actually messed up her life for a while. She was selfish and a little crazy, but in a normal, non-threatening way. She loved Stephen King, so she saw Misery the day it came out. She came back to work talking about how much she hated it, although it was clear that she didn’t realize what bothered her so much. As more and more people saw the movie, they realized why. Everyone was talking about it, especially to her subordinates because they knew we didn’t like her. She realized after a while what was going on and it really upset her, and that was before someone called her “Annie.” It was a new employee working in another department- people had been referring to her as Annie so much, this woman assumed that was her name. She was an unpleasant person but she didn’t deserve what happened - it was messed up. The ironic thing is, I made a real effort to reach out to her and reassure her, and I even went around telling people that the joke should be over. But, a few months later, for some reason she started demanding that I work hours for free, and I eventually had to leave. I was the only person there who gave a crap about her feelings and she threw me under the bus. She didn’t hit me with a hammer, though.😂😂😂

[@chrisjohnstone9228]

Excellent review!!! Keep up the good work.

[@MeelatchiDaibukti]

Some of Stephen King s best work are the ones where he takes inspiration from deep personal fears. Like this one.

[@arn7992]

Kathy Bates was also great in another Stephen King adaptation, Dolores Claiborne. Highly recommend for fans of Bates!

[@overlydramaticpanda]

Honestly, as wonderful as Kathy Bates is, I feel like everyone overlooks James Caan's performance in this (somewhat understandably, but even so...). His reactions go a deceptively long way towards helping Kathy Bates sell Annie Wilkes as being genuinely dangerous, even from quite early on. Even little things like how he responds to the soup incident, or how he starts slowly wheeling his chair away from her after he's corrected her about the paper she bought to type with and she's pretending to be nice to him before getting angry. I'm honestly not trying to downplay her performance at all because it's honestly one of the best screen performances I've ever seen, but she could be doing everything exactly the same and if Caan wasn't on point with *his* performance, you just wouldn't buy hers because it's Paul's fear we're connecting to throughout the story and it's through that fear we respond to Annie.

[@unfiltered8682]

Great video, iconic performance!

[@schrisdellopoulos9244]

Annie was scarier than any monster because she was real.

[@TheRealHelenaDeluca]

I just re watched this in a local cinema it's great :D

[@AlBundy319]

I read the book before seeing the movie and for some reason I always imagined Brooke Smith (Catherine Martin from Silence of the Lambs, but older) as Annie. Kathy Bates is amazing however, anybody else in Annie's role would have been a lesser movie. Great analysis!

[@lonewolf3611]

great video, I had never heard of this film or book before, thanks

[@teamogaga]

Academy award winner: Mrs. Kathy Bates 🏆

[@girlcalledmango]

Fantastic analysis.

[@qjames0077]

The original Stan

[@claudermiller]

Best movie ending ever! The audience stood up and cheered. 😅😅😅

[@josebro352]

We need to give Lizzy Caplan credit as well. She played Annie Wilkes perfectly in Season 2 of Castle Rock. At times I honestly thought I was watching Kathy Bates again.

[@Chelle.85]

She was fantastic as a young Annie 👌

[@estott3647]

We were all held hostage right alongside James Caan

[@josebro352]

"Here's one big bastard of a check gimme some of your christing money!!" I want to say that to someone who's cashing my check so bad!!! 😂

[@kdaltex]

Look how she massacred my boy

[@GravityJWST]

11:09 What. A. Performance ❤🎉❤ my god

[@klwm6432]

Kathy Bates earned that Oscar! I wish the academy would look at the genre of horror more often!

[@ofskittlez]

Kathy Bates is the queen of playing "seemingly sweet and wholesome but actually crazy".

[@MatthiaGryffine]

Annie Wilkes is perhaps the character that most epitomizes people in modern society

[@girlcalledmango]

Very true. Very scary.

[@Mace907]

Truly we live in a society

[@EphemeralProductions]

Sadly, I feel you’re right

[@hannahb9195]

Kathy Bates was amazing. My mother was a psychopath and sadist who was very, very, very similar to the Annie Wilkes character. The flat despondent tone of the depressive psychosis, the rage and the childish imitating were all bang on precisely like my mother. It really captures how scary it is when someone goes into a dissociative depression and tries to kill you. Unfortunately very familiar.

[@djmixnmagic]

This was fantastic! Can you do one for “Carrie?”

[@johnnzboy]

Great, insightful video

[@steve-852]

Me and Just An Observation were meant to be together, forever.

[@berner]

They say never meet your heroes, but the flip side to that coin is "Never meet your fans".

[@malex4321]

Perfect film!!

[@juliemc8460]

I think I’m still a little bit scared of Kathy Bates. This was a brilliant, one of a kind performance. Glad Paul got away at the end, but did he?😂

[@gamecokben]

This movie was always brilliant, but it has only become more relevant over the decades.

[@jamesbrinner3678]

very good as always

[@alesandro_vocalist_actor_coach]

That was great Thank you!!!!

[@thegunslinger1363]

Could you cover Javier Bardem as Anton Chigurh?

[@GemR38]

Yes!!!!! I second this!!!

[@uphillracer]

11:27 aaah you slipped it in right before the deadline 😜

[@BritInvLvr]

After reading the book, I couldn’t see the movie. This and Dolores Claiborne really stuck with me.

[@6Fiona6_P_6]

Annie Wilkes has a Borderline Personality Disorder with Psychopathic Tendencies. She’s not a Psychopath… Kathy Bates performed this character brilliantly and believably…… ⚛️☮️🌏

[@JonasEllehauge]

Gosh, I never heard of this movie, gotta see it. I saw her in Dolores Claiborne.

[@ms.ellenlevy5667]

She was awesome in misery. I also loved her in Dolores Claiborne.

[@sashavjs]

My mother is a largely bed ridden (for near twenty years) manic depressive. One of her rants that got her sectioned lasted two days and two nights. I’m talking a woman in her seventies, with countless ailments was so pepped on adrenaline that she ranted non stop for 48 hours before a nurse, followed by doc, then social services gave the order. She’s doing better for now but the section on vocal performance reminded me of my mother. She’d adopt this strange sing-song quality lambasting people from her past: could be someone from Forty some years ago, last week whenever. Old conversations and complaints. When I watch Misery - particularly Annie’s “highs”, I think of my mum. In other words, Bates’ performance makes me completely forget I’m watching an actress in a film.

[@kashesan]

she is brilliant

[@Maesterful]

Brilliant

[@adamethancrow]

Love the Chanel

[@ToddWCorey1]

Id love to hear your take on Robert Shaw/ Capt Quint.

[@adamchirico7724]

This movie scarred me as a kid lol , I been wanting to know what movie it was , thanks!

[@Imaginary_tour]

I remember seeing this movie for the first time because my friend said it was good. I tend to be bias when it comes to old films thinking they're too corny and boring but this movie proved otherwise.

[@Jack-ke5uv]

The crap that comes out of Hollywood today is boring.