Bruce Willis returning to the stage in Broadway’s ‘Misery’

In the immortal words of Annie Wilkes, “Misery’s alive! Misery’s alive!”

“Misery,” a new play adapted by William Goldman from the Stephen King bestseller, will bow on Broadway this fall with a cast that includes Bruce Willis as author Paul Sheldon and Elizabeth Marvel as Annie, his deranged No. 1 fan who holds the novelist hostage in her rural farmhouse.

The play will mark the Broadway debut of Willis, who is more associated with Hollywood action movies than New York stage productions. In the 1990 film adaptation of “Misery,” which Goldman also wrote, the role of Paul Sheldon was played by James Caan, while Annie Wilkes was played by Kathy Bates, who won an Academy Award for her memorable performance.

The play’s producers didn’t provide any dates in their announcement on Wednesday, but said that “Misery” would begin performances in the fall of 2015 in a Broadway house to be announced shortly. Will Frears will direct the production.

“Misery” had a brief out-of-town run at the Bucks County Playhouse in Pennsylvania in 2012, with a different cast that included Johanna Day and Daniel Gerroll.

The Broadway run will be produced by Warner Bros. Theatre Ventures, Castle Rock Entertainment and Raymond Wu. Castle Rock was one of the production companies behind the 1990 movie version of “Misery.” Wu was the co-head of Warner Bros. Theatre Ventures, along with Mark Kaufman, who remains the executive vice president of the group.

Before he became a Hollywood star, Willis was a struggling New York actor who appeared in a number of off-Broadway productions. In a 2013 interview with GQ magazine, the actor hinted at a return to the stage.

“I’d like to go and do theater. It seems like a more reasonable job, more manageable,” he told the publication.

Twitter: @DavidNgLAT