10 Surprising Things You Didn’t Know About “The Princess Bride”

6. Arnold Schwarzenegger Wanted the Role of Fezzik

During the ‘70s, when the author of the book, William Goldman, was trying to get it to the big screen, a then-unknown Arnold Schwarzenegger was interested in the role of Fezzik and he was strongly considered because Andre the Giant, who was Goldman’s first choice, wouldn’t come and read for the role. When the book was finally being made into a movie, Schwarzenegger was a big star and was too expensive, but by then they could get Andre the Giant to read for the part, so he was cast.

7. The Leads Had Crushes on Each Other

Robin Wright and Cary Elwes were smitten with each other. “It was as if I were looking at a young Grace Kelly, she was that beautiful,” Elwes wrote in his book As You Wish: Inconceivable Tales from the Making of The Princess Bride. “I couldn’t concentrate on much of anything after that first encounter with Robin.” Wright admitted that the feeling was mutual. “So obviously that helped our on-screen chemistry,” she said.

8. The Fencing Parts Were Well Rehearsed

Cary Elwes and Mandy Patinkin learned to fence for their roles. When they weren’t in front of the cameras, they were training with Peter Diamond and Bob Anderson, who both worked on the first three Star Wars films. Elwes and Patinkin also watched every single sword fight ever filmed and learned each other’s parts in the fencing routine after Anderson recommended it. “He said, ‘If you learn the other guy’s part, you know what you are going do and so there’s no chance of an accident,’” Elwes said.

9. Andre the Giant’s Enormous Hands

When the weather became quite cold during filming, Andre the Giant (who was 7’4” and 540 pounds) would make Robin Wright warm by placing one of his hands on her head. “We’re in the middle of the forest and we’d be standing next to each other in our costumes and it’s freaking cold and wet. He put his hands on my head literally to keep me warm from shivering. His hands covered my whole head. The heat from his hand was like an electric blanket. He was just very sweet and thoughtful. He would always hand me his coat if my coat wasn’t nearby. Really sweet,” she said.

10. Bringing the Book to the Big Screen

Rob Reiner’s favorite book was The Princess Bride. When he became a filmmaker after the success of 1984’s This Is Spinal Tap, he really wanted to make to turn the book into a movie, but no one was interested. “It was an impossible sell,” Reiner told Variety. “The funny thing about it was that before I made ‘Stand by Me’ — I had made ‘Spinal Tap’ and ‘The Sure Thing’ — I had a meeting with this executive at Paramount. She said, ‘We love your films. What do you want to do next? I said, ‘Well, you don’t want to do what I want to do.’ She said, ‘No, that’s not true. I want to do what you want to do. I said, ‘No, no. You want me to do what you want to do.’  She said, ‘No, no. I want to do what you want to do. What is it?’ I said ‘The Princess Bride.’ She said, ‘Well, anything but that.’” He soon discovered that other filmmakers had tried and failed to make the book into a movie. Eventually, however, producer Norman Lear – whom he had worked for on All in the Family and who had funded the mockumentary This Is Spinal Tap – gave Reiner the money to make The Princess Bride.

Credits:  fame10.com

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