ENTERTAINMENT 1
Director Rob Reiner paints the big picture for "Misery" star James Caan.
*macs movie Is `Misery' madness
There's plenty of black comedy in Rob Reiner's first mystery / thriller.
MICHAEL ELKIN
Special to The Jewish News
N
EW YORK —
Moviemaker Rob
Reiner is a reel man
of mystery.
Not to mention thrills and
chills.
"I've. never made anyone
in an audience scream
before, but it's fun to watch
them jump and scream,"
says the director of the reac-
tion to his mystery/thriller
Misery. In fact, it's "almost as
much fun as making them
laugh."
Mr. Reiner is having the
last laugh on those who may
have thought that the
onetime "All in the Family"
Meathead couldn't meet the
heady demands of directing.
Since leaving the
legendary CBS-TV comedy
12 years ago, actor Mr.
Reiner has done just that.
He first tapped into movie
comedy with This Is Spinal
Tap, the comical "rock-
umentary" about a
Michael Elkin is the enter-
tainment editor of the Phila-
delphia "Jewish Exponent."
lightweight heavy .-metal
group.
Mr. Reiner then proved
his mettle with The Sure
Thing and Stand by Me —
like Misery, an adaptation of
a work by novelist Steven
King
The Princess Bride
and the plentifully profitable
When Harry Met Sally....
When Mr. Reiner met
Misery, he wasn't sure it was
a perfect match. "This is
really not my kind of film,"
says Mr. Reiner of making a
thriller/chiller from the guru
of gore's grisly novel.
"What really drew me to
the project was the artist's
dilemma in the film," in
which a romance novelist
who has attained incredible
financial 'success decides to
break away from the prison
of the genre to attempt a
more serious work of litera-
ture.
Trapping him is his
"number-one fan," who res-
cues the injured author from
a blizzard-induced car acci-
dent, entombing him in an
artistic hellhole in her house
hidden away in the moun-
tains.
Nursing his injuries, she
nurtures her own fantasy
—
life, physically forcing the
author to abandon his lit-
erary aspirations and write
one more chapter about the
romantic heroine he has con-
cocted, Misery Chastain.
What Mr. Reiner has
created — along with
screenwriter William (All
the President's Men) Gold-
man — is a chilling treat, a
Rob Reiner: "Meathead" no more
psychological thriller about
a psychotic fan.
"We tried to 'clegore' it,"
says Mr. Reiner, referring to
Mr. King's bloodier book
Indeed, Misery is
mischievous, a black comedy
of bleak statements on
cultural icons and the au-
diences who own them.
Misery loves company —
and company has come in
the guise of critical and
commercial acclaim.
Indeed, reviews have been
raves, and boxoffice is boffo.
Mr. Reiner, of course, has
enjoyed the fruits of show
business success before with
"All in the Family."
"I had a lot of pressure to
stay with the series," says
Mr. Reiner of his decision to
depart "Family" five years
before the show shut down
production.
"There were enormous
amounts of money offered to
continue, including a spin-
off series."
• Mr. Reiner decided to take
a spin at his own wheel of
feature-film fortune. But it
took him four years to get an
opportunity to direct.
While winning two Emmy
Awards for his portrayal of
Michael Stivic in "Family," it
was harder to win his
freedom from audience and
industry perceptions of him
as the Meathead. As Mr.
Reiner once told a reporter,
"I know that if I ever won a
Pulitzer Prize for becoming a
great doctor who discovers a
cure for a major disease, the
headlines would read
'Meathead Wins Pulitzer.' "
These days; it would most
likely be an Oscar for his
cure of moviegoers'
doldrums. Mr. Reiner is
happy about Misery, but he
acknowledges that there is
no way to predict motion-
picture success.
"I've been wrong about ev-
ery movie I've made," he
says with a shrug. "I thought
Stand by Me
his most
heralded film before Misery
— "would do very poorly."
Wrong. "I thought the
same thing about Harry and
Sally, and that took in,
what, $130 to $135 million. I
remember saying (to
screenwriter Nora Ephron)
Who's going to want to see
this film?' "
In another guess that
turned sour, Mr. Reiner
reasoned that Princess
Bride would crown him mo-
tion-picture prince of com-
edy. "I thought it would be
enormous, but we couldn't
get the teen market," says
the director.
The market for Misery is
made up of those who want a
primal scream to go with
their popcorn. It is frighten-
ing and can be fiercely per-
—
THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
61