'As You Wish': Take A Peek At The Making Of 'The Princess Bride'

Transcript

ARUN RATH, HOST:

How many movies can pull off being both earnest and ironic, both cynical and romantic and laugh-out-loud funny? I can only think of one - "The Princess Bride." For many of you, I know those lines are already running through your head.

(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "THE PRINCESS BRIDE")

PETER COOK: (As The Impressive Clergyman) Mawwiage - mawwiage is what bwings us together...

MANDY PATINKIN: (As Inigo Montoya) Hello. My name Inigo Montoya. You killed my father. Prepare to die.

CARY ELWES: (As Westley) As you wish.

ROBIN WRIGHT: (As Buttercup) Oh, my sweet Westley, what have I done?

RATH: Cary Elwes played young, sweet Westley. Twenty-seven years after "The Princess Bride" hit theaters, he has a new book about the making of the film. Of course, it's called "As You Wish." We started talking about his most difficult scene. The story called for the greatest sword fight in modern times.

(SOUNDBITE OF SWORDS CLASHING)

RATH: And director Rob Reiner insisted that Elwes and Mandy Patinkin, who played Inigo Montoya, actually be in every frame of the scene, all while delivering that classic banter.

(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "THE PRINCESS BRIDE")

PATINKIN: (As Inigo Montoya) You are using Bonetti's defense against me, huh?

ELWES: (As Westley) I though it fitting, considering the rocky terrain.

ELWES: He assigned to us two of the greatest sword trainers we could possibly get. And they worked us every single day - I mean, if there was time between a take, even. So we never had a chance to sit down. (Laughter) Mandy and I...

RATH: This is the last thing that you filmed, almost, because it was so complex.

ELWES: Right. Bob said to us - at the beginning, he said, we've deliberately asked the producers to move the schedule of the sword fight sequence to the end of the movie 'cause we need every day we can get with you just to teach you to do right-handed sword. Forget the left-handed. That's going to be a whole other thing.

RATH: Because halfway through the duel, both of you reveal that you're actually right-handed.

ELWES: Actually right-handed - correct.

(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "THE PRINCESS BRIDE")

PATINKIN: (As Inigo Montoya) There's something that I ought to tell you.

ELWES: Tell me. I'm not left-handed either.

ELWES: I mean, I got to tell you, we really worked hard at it, and it was a lot of fun.

RATH: Well, speaking of that - there are a lot of funny people, a lot of funny scenes in this film. Was the one in particular where you had the hardest time keeping it together?

ELWES: Oh sure.

RATH: Not cracking up.

ELWES: Oh, my gosh. Well, it has to be Billy Crystal. I mean, there's no question.

RATH: Miracle Max.

ELWES: I mean, forget it.

(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "THE PRINCESS BRIDE")

PATINKIN: (As Inigo Montoya) We need a miracle. It's very important.

BILLY CRYSTAL: (As Miracle Max) Look, I'm retired.

RATH: And you had to play dead.

ELWES: I had to play dead. I heard Rob go over to Billy. I remember him saying to him, you know, just go for it. And he basically gave Billy free reign to do medieval Yiddish stand up...

RATH: (Laughter).

ELWES: ...And throw away all the pages for the scene.

(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "THE PRINCESS BRIDE")

ANDRE THE GIANT: (As Fezzik) Sir?

CRYSTAL: (As Miracle Max) Huh?

ANDRE THE GIANT: (As Fezzik) We're in a terrible rush.

CRYSTAL: (As Miracle Max) Don't rush me, sonny. You rush a miracle, and then you get rotten miracles.

ELWES: And then he walked over to me, and he said, now, listen - you have to be dead in this scene, so you can't - we can't even see you breathe. We can't see your chest move.

(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "THE PRINCESS BRIDE")

CRYSTAL: (As Miracle Max) Hello in there. Hey. What's so important? What do you got here that's worth living for?

ELWES: First person to be banned from the set because his laugh is so loud is Rob. Then I lost it, and so they replaced me with my rubber dummy. And then Mandy had tried so hard to hold in his laugh, he actually bruised a rib.

RATH: He didn't get hurt in the sword fight, but...

ELWES: Didn't get hurt in the sword fight, didn't get hurt anywhere during the filming other than trying to hold in his laugh with Billy Crystal. (Laughter).

RATH: It's funny. Often with classic films, when you get the back story, you hear horrible stuff. It's like "Singing In The Rain" - they were all miserable the entire time.

ELWES: No, really? Were they really?

RATH: Well, yeah, apparently it was - it was pretty tough going.

ELWES: No. That's too bad. I love that movie.

RATH: But this - it sounds like you guys were just having a blast.

ELWES: It was more fun than you think.

RATH: (Laughter).

ELWES: We had an incredible director in Rob. He knew we were going on this journey. And he wanted to make sure he surrounded himself with people that he wanted to spend time with and have fun with, and that's what he got.

RATH: Now, a lot of the younger fans of the film probably aren't aware that this was not a huge blockbuster success at the time. I mean, I was in high school when it came out. I don't even remember seeing trailers or ads for it. I saw it on video.

ELWES: No. They pulled the trailer. Fox pulled the trailer. They were actually stumped - the marketing department. And God bless them because they'd never come across a film that had so many genres in it. You know, what it a comedy? Was it an adventure film? Was it a kids' film? Was it a fairytale, or was it an adult movie? And of course, it was all these things, you see. And they didn't know how to pitch it.

The film came and did some modest business - respectable, modest - but not the kind of money that they'd hoped. And it wasn't until about almost a decade later when VHS came out that the film found its legs again. From a film that had been mostly dead...

RATH: (Laughter).

ELWES: ...It was suddenly alive again. Then it became this huge hit.

RATH: When did you start to get a sense then that this is a very special film to a lot of people?

ELWES: I was in a restaurant in New York, and I was ordering a - I think, a hamburger. And the waitress said, how do you want that done? And I said, medium-rare, and she said, as you wish. And I looked up at her, and I went, what did you just say?

(LAUGHTER)

ELWES: And she winked and walked off, and I thought, oh. So it was a wonderful, delightful rebirth, if you will.

RATH: And you found out that Bill Clinton was a fan. And I bring this up because I know you do a good Bill Clinton impression.

(LAUGHTER)

ELWES: That was amazing. I got to go to the White House. I worked on a show called "From The Earth To The Moon," which Tom Hanks produced for HPO.

RATH: About the Apollo - the moon mission

ELWES: The Apollo space program - yeah. For the Millennium Series at the White House, the president screened our episode - Apollo 11. And so we flew out to Washington and finally, we found ourselves standing in front of him - my wife and I. And I put out my hand, and I said, Mr. President, my name is - and he stopped me, and he goes, I know exactly who you are, Cary. And I thought, wow. How does he know me? This is crazy. You know, I mean - you know, I was in the movie - sure, but - and he goes, no, no, it's not what you think. Chelsea and I are big fans of "The Princess Bride." We've seen it over 100 times. I know every line. I love that movie. And I just was dumbfounded. I couldn't believe it. There you go. You never know where your fans are going to be.

RATH: Cary Elwes - his new book is called "As You Wish." It's about the making of "The Princess Bride." Thank you so much. It's been a real pleasure speaking with you.

ELWES: Thank you. It's a pleasure to be here.

RATH: And I have to ask - can you just give us an as you wish before we go?

ELWES: Sure. As you wish. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.