Caan died on Wednesday at the age of 82. The Oscar, Emmy and Golden Globe nominated actor was known for roles in “The Godfather,” “Brian’s Song,” “Thief” and most recently “Elf.” But to me he will always be Paul, the writer in Stephen King’s best-selling novel made into the 1990 Academy Award-winning film “Misery.” In a difficult, limited role, Caan brought his trademark gruffness. As Paul, Caan was tough and tender. It also did the unthinkable: it made writers cool.
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“Misery” centers on Paul, a wildly successful novelist who has just finished the first draft of his latest book, a marked departure from his bestselling and highly commercialized “Misery” series, and Annie, the self-proclaimed “No. 1” fan (Kathy Bates). Paul has gone to a resort in the mountains of Colorado to finish his book, the same place he always goes. Once he finishes the novel and celebrates for a while, he sets off in a blizzard to deliver it and get back to his life.
Here’s the thing about patterns: stalkers can take advantage. When Paul crashes his sports car in the snow, Annie conveniently finds him, saves him, and nurses him back to health at her remote farmhouse. But her hospitalization comes at a price: total devotion and a brand new book.
Those were the heady days of an author photo taking up the entire back cover of a book. Who needs a summary or a detail when you have pulsating good looks?
The role of Paul was turned down by a Who’s Who of notable actors, including William Hurt, Richard Dreyfuss, Robert De Niro, Al Pacino, Harrison Ford and Robert Redford. Misery director Rob Reiner claimed the many movie stars who turned down the role were “bullied”. Warren Beatty was also tipped for the role, but Reiner said, “When it got to the point where we were ready to do it, (Beatty) was too nervous. And he left.”
It’s not easy to spend the majority of a nearly two-hour film playing prone from a bed (which translated into 15 weeks of filming while on your back). “Misery” also marked the return of Caan, his final leading man, to Hollywood after taking time off to deal with addiction. It made the movie even more perfect for him. Author King said the whole story was a metaphor for his own struggles with drugs.
Physically, Caan looked taller than he was, with broad shoulders, a barrel chest and an energy that leaped from his performances like sparks. The Hollywood Reporter, in its obituary, described him as the “Macho Leading Man of Hollywood.” Keeping this man confined to a bed for weeks translated into a display of barely contained frenzy.
Actor James Caan in a scene from the film ‘Misery’, 1990. (Stanley Bielecki Film Collection/Getty Images) Caan had Redford’s matinee idol look. His Paul is rich, successful. His books are profitable enough to have paid for two houses, his agent reminds him.
The photo of the author in his books—of which Annie has a framed version in her living room shrine to the author—looks like a glamor shot, more like an actor’s headshot than a novelist’s. Those were the heady days of an author photo taking up the entire back cover of a book. Who needs a summary or a detail when you have pulsating good looks?
A cool writer needs a cool agent. And that’s Lauren Bacall playing the world’s most glamorous literary agent with her smoky deep voice, padded shoulder power suit with a gold pin, and ’90s feathered hair. They are having lunch in New York. She makes hard love to him. This is the daring life of the writer!
Like any good artist, Paul wants more.
Paul drives, of course, a vintage Mustang. And he recklessly drives the little sports car on the snowy mountain roads of Colorado. Such is the confidence Paul has, so sure he will finish his book that he has his festive rituals sitting next to him.
But like any good artist, Paul wants more. It has commercial acceptance, the kind most writers can only dream of, but it also wants literary approval. He wants awards. He wants respect, not just money (in the way only someone with money can say). The same audacity that drives him to drive a sports car in a snowstorm leads him to kill the main character of his popular series: the heroine Mercy, the profiteer who provided those two houses – and floor seats for the Knicks.
Paul occupies that rare strata in the book world: he’s really, really popular, but he’s also good. A good enough writer that the sheriff (Richard Farnsworth, always so heartbreakingly excellent) who picks up some of Paul’s books as an investigation when the author goes missing, presumed dead, can’t put it down. He reads them all the time. Underlines and remembers lines.
His Pavlos is funny, smart but not cruel, even with Annie who is very, very cruel to him. It kills her. He hurts her before that. But he never makes fun of her.
Is this character a stand-in writer for King? Probably. King wrote authors in many of his books, including “The Shining” and in later years, “Bag of Bones” (which is my weird favorite), but the year “Misery” came out, we didn’t have many examples bards on screen. This was years before “Finding Forrester” or “Henry Fool.” before Secretary Jughead thought in “Riverdale” — even before “Poetic Justice” or “Mrs. Parker and the Vicious Circle.”
Paul falls into certain tropes of the writer’s character. He is neurotic and cautious. He is male, white. “Misery” is not without misogyny. But Caan lifts the role off the page. His Paul is funny, intelligent but not cruel. Not hard, even with Annie being very, very hard on him. It kills her. must survive. He hurts her before that. But he never makes fun of her.
“Misery” was one of the first examples of toxic fan culture, a toxicity whose poisons we continue to reckon with in stronger doses today. In her upcoming novel “Number One Fan,” Meg Elison spins this beautifully and chillingly into an updated “Misery” story with science fiction conventions, fan fiction, and a kidnapped female writer. How can you love something so much that you want to hurt it or keep it for yourself forever? If you can’t have it, nobody can.
We believe this author has demons. We believe this writer will always have demons.
But as Annie, who it turns out has a history of murder, has a dark center, Paul has a lead for him as well. At the end of “Misery,” as he has intrusive PTSD flashbacks, Paul admits to his glamorous agent, in a glamorous restaurant where he’s wearing a shiny suit, that he needed Annie.
Kaan’s inner darkness and energy sell this line. We believe this author has demons. We believe this writer will always have demons, just as he will always have kindness (he was trying to get home for his daughter’s birthday when he first got into the car accident, after all).
He is patient. He remains himself, despite his captivity and the horrible things done to him (you know the ones). He doesn’t pet Annie’s pet pig when the friendly pig runs by his bed. Paul is too cool for that. He keeps his cool, as Kaan somehow kept his energetic, mobile self contained within Paul’s injured body for weeks.
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Caan kept the typewriter from the film as a memento as well. Bates’ co-star, who won an Academy Award for her performance as Annie, recalled: “Working with him on ‘Misery’ was one of the most profound experiences of my career. When you watch his performance, the terror of it, it is like watching a snake. brilliant.”
Hold the typewriter. hold the sledgehammer. In an interview they did together in 2015, Caan asked her, “Do you want to trade?”
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