Caught about half of Misery on TV last night. I'd forgotten how amazing Kathy Bates is as Annie Wilkes - she's one of the scariest things ever put on screen. The way she can just turn in a millisecond; the way she infects seemingly sweet little routines and sayings with malice and just balls-out insanity... it really makes the skin crawl.
Here's an exchange I saw last night that really stuck out this viewing:
The way Kathy Bates delivers that last line, "I might put bullets in it," is just phenomenally acted - you can't tell if she means she's going to do it right then, or if she just means someday, or if she's meaning that she has to get away from him immediately or she'll definitely put the bullets in it... and every connotation is just creepier than the last.
A definite case of the Oscars getting it right, this time. When was the last time a performance this horrific was even nominated, much less won? I'm drawing a blank. I think this was just before The Silence of the Lambs, so there's that... the early Nineties were a good time for horror getting some awards recognition.
The only thing I can think of is Ellen Burtsyn in Requiem For A Dream, a performance that was criminally robbed of Best Actress by Julia Roberts' push-up bra. I was as upset that year about Burstyn's loss as I was this year about Brokeback. Burstyn gave one of the best performances of all time in that film.
Here's an exchange I saw last night that really stuck out this viewing:
Annie Wilkes: Here's your pills.
Paul Sheldon: Annie? Annie, what is it?
Annie Wilkes: The rain. Sometimes it gives me the blues. When you first came here, I only loved the writer part of Paul Sheldon. Now I know I love the rest of him, too. I know you don't love me, don't say you do. You're beautiful, brilliant, a famous man of the world and I'm... not a movie star type. You'll never know the fear of losing someone like you if you're someone like me.
Paul Sheldon: Why would you lose me?
Annie Wilkes: Book's almost finished, your legs are getting better. Soon you'll be wanting to leave.
Paul Sheldon: Why would I leave? I like it here.
Annie Wilkes: That's very kind of you, but I'll bet it's not all together true.
[pulls out a gun]
Annie Wilkes: I have this gun.
[pulls the trigger]
Annie Wilkes: Sometimes I think about using it. I'd better go now. I might put bullets in it.
The way Kathy Bates delivers that last line, "I might put bullets in it," is just phenomenally acted - you can't tell if she means she's going to do it right then, or if she just means someday, or if she's meaning that she has to get away from him immediately or she'll definitely put the bullets in it... and every connotation is just creepier than the last.
A definite case of the Oscars getting it right, this time. When was the last time a performance this horrific was even nominated, much less won? I'm drawing a blank. I think this was just before The Silence of the Lambs, so there's that... the early Nineties were a good time for horror getting some awards recognition.
The only thing I can think of is Ellen Burtsyn in Requiem For A Dream, a performance that was criminally robbed of Best Actress by Julia Roberts' push-up bra. I was as upset that year about Burstyn's loss as I was this year about Brokeback. Burstyn gave one of the best performances of all time in that film.
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