Huffington Post – The cast of “The Princess Bride” reunites at the New York Film Festival

Jim Hill

12 years ago

The cast of "The Princess Bride" reunites at the New York Film Festival

25 years ago, the very idea that there might actually be an audience out there for "The Princess Bride" was — for executives at 20th Century Fox, anyway — inconceivable.

"Fox just couldn't figure out how to market the thing. Was it a
comedy? A love story? An action-adventure? A spoof?," director Rob
Reiner recalled earlier this week at the New York Film Festival.
"Which is why — a week before this movie is due to hit theaters — I
was at the producer's house, working on the one-sheet and the trailer."

(L to R) Rob Reiner, Robin Wright, William Goldman, Wallace Shawn, Chris Sarandon,
Mandy Patinkin, Carol Kane, Cary Elwes, Billy Crystal and panel moderator Scott
Foundas at Tuesday night's 25th anniversary screening & panel discussion of
"The Princess Bride." Photo by Florence Doyle

But clearly over the past quarter century, "The Princess Bride" must have connected with a pretty sizable audience, given the turn-away crowd that came out on a very rainy Tuesday night to Alice Tulley Hall
to watch a brand-new 35 MM print of this much-beloved motion picture,
as well as listen in as members of the cast shared some fond memories of
working on this film.

For some, getting ready for their role in "The Princess Bride"
was kind of like preparing to run a marathon. Mandy Patinkin talked
about how he spent eight months prior to the start of shooting studying
fencing so that he could properly play Spanish swordsman Inigo Montoya.

"Ron didn't want to have to use any stunt doubles for Cary (Elwes)
and my big sword-fighting scene in the movie. He wanted us to do it all
right in front of the cameras," Patinkin continued. "So during
production, every day right after lunch, Cary and I would pick up our
foils and then go off to practice. And we kept getting better and
better, faster and faster."

And speaking of fast, Billy Crystal shot his scene-stealing cameo as
Miracle Max in just three days. Which isn't to say this comic had a
particularly easy time when it came to working on "The Princess Bride."

Bill Crystal looks on as Cary Elwes shares a story about the making of "The Princess
Bride." Photo by Florence Doyle

So what made Miracle Max such a difficult character for Bill Crystal to portray? To get the answer to that question,
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