How Stephen King Reacted To Rob Reiner's Misery And Stand By Me Movies

Veteran horror author Stephen King isn't shy when it comes to discussing films and TV shows based on his work. King has shared his feelings on his most awful movie adaptions, and he isn't even fond of some of the most beloved flicks based on his stories, famously hating Stanley Kubrick's version of "The Shining" despite it being critically acclaimed. But that didn't stop late filmmaker Rob Reiner from taking a swing at not one, but two King adaptations over the course of his career — "Stand by Me" and "Misery." So what did the evidently difficult to please author think of Reiner's efforts? As it turns out, King was a huge fan of both of Reiner's adaptations. 

"Stand by Me" was released in 1986 and is based on King's novella "The Body," following four boys (Wil Wheaton, River Phoenix, Corey Feldman, and Jerry O'Connell) who set out to find a dead body they heard about and end up going on a life-changing adventure in the process. Reiner followed that up just four years later with "Misery," adapting King's novel of the same name about a romance novelist (James Caan) who gets into an accident and is subsequently kidnapped by a mentally unstable fan (Kathy Bates). They're two very different stories and the film versions have distinct flavors, but King was blown away by Reiner's work in both instances.

According to a Chicago Tribune interview with Rob Reiner from 1986, King told him personally after the premiere of "Stand By Me" that it was "the best film ever made out of anything I've written." Thirty years later, after having a lot of time to reflect on "Stand by Me" — and having a lot more adaptations of his works to compare it to — King reaffirmed in a 2016 interview with Deadline that it was still one of his favorite adaptations, though he said "The Shawshank Redemption" now sat right next to it at the top of his list. We also put both films near the top of our own ranking of the best Stephen King movies.

As for "Misery," King took things a step further in complimenting Reiner's film version. The author said the movie actually did some things better than his book did, particularly in making it a little bit funnier. "The combination of James Caan and Kathy Bates was magic, and it had a touch of humor that was missing from my book," he told The New York Times in 2025. The piece itself goes on to state that "King even believes 'Misery' is a better movie than it was a book," suggesting that the acclaimed author said more on the subject than was directly quoted. That's high praise indeed from someone who doesn't give it easily when it comes to adaptations.